Beautiful
by Jencey86
Summary: Santana was just outed at school. Dani is new to McKinley. Can they help each other cope with the everyday troubles known as High School?
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Apparently my first attempt at this new upload system failed horribly and it led to the format being ALL jacked up. Not to self, don't use the "copy and paste" option. Just upload the file and edit it, hopefully this works.

Anyway, this is the first story I've uploaded on here since 2014. This entire story is available over on my Tumblr as it was originally posted there. I just wanted to share it over here so that I could have actual reviews to read. I like going back through old stories and reading reviews.

 _ **Beautiful  
Chapter 1**_

"Do you have any idea who I am?"

"Sure we do." Karofsky stepped closer to the Cheerio in front of him, "you're nothing but a dyke." He reached behind him to accept a cup that some other student handed to him. "And this is what people like you get." He dumped the cold, frozen liquid on the top of her head.

Santana stood frozen, literally, by the ice chunks that slowly slid down her hair and onto her clothing. The chill of the slushy was instant. She found herself taking slow, deep breaths to stop herself from cutting off his fingers with one of the razor blades she kept hidden in her hair.

"Aw, what's the matter, Satan? Nothing to say?"

"Actually Karofsky, I prefer interactions with people on my own intelligence level." She cupped her fingers over her eyes to scoop away the ice and syrup before forcing her eyes open – ignoring the stinging pain she instantly felt.

He snatched her wrist tight enough for her to hiss in pain as he leaned down to yell into her face, "the fuck did you just say to me?"

Her teeth clenched together as she stared right at him, "I believe I just called you an idiot. Or could you not understand me? Should I speak slower?"

With a quick push, Santana found her back, and the back of her head connecting with the nearest locker. "Let's go guys, this bitch isn't worth it."

Slowly, she sank down to the floor. 'Don't break, Santana. You're at school, they can't see you break.' She gave herself an internal pep talk as she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. There was a slow throb that started in her head and continued down to her shoulder blades from the impact with the unforgiving metal. It wasn't the first time she'd been shoved into the lockers. And, with her still having almost two years left at the school before she graduated, she doubted it would be the last.

"Let me help you."

Santana looked up at the hand that was being offered to her. She threw the girl a soft smile before taking it and allowing herself to be helped back to her feet. Without another word, she followed the girl into the nearest bathroom to get cleaned up. "I'm so sick and tired of this."

"Haven't you said anything to Coach Sylvester?"

"Are you really that dense to think that woman cares about anybody but herself, Rachel?"

The shorter brunette dug into her own backpack for some soap and shampoo to help the Latina clean up. "I was just trying to be helpful, Santana. You don't need to bite my head off."

Santana's hands clutched the edge of the sink for a moment as she stared at herself in the mirror. Blue definitely wasn't her color. "I'm sorry… they just have me so fucking pissed!"

"Language Santana." Rachel scolded before reaching in front of the Cheerio to turn on the sink. "There has to be something you can do."

Santana spun around to face her friend, "don't you think I've tried? I just have to put up with it. This school is fucking ridiculous."

"Santana, language."

"You really think I care right now, Berry?" She hated snapping at the girl, but those two meatheads had gotten her so irritated over the past few weeks. She closed her eyes to calm her anger some. She'd gotten better with not snapping as much at the people who she learned were her real friends. "I don't have anything else to wear…" she made no attempt to hide the disappointment in her tone as she looked down at her soaked Cheerios uniform. Rachel mentioned talking to Sylvester about it, but it was obvious that the Cheerios coach already knew about it. It was an almost daily basis that Santana was forced to change out of her uniform.

"No emergency clothing left?" Rachel frowned as she went back to her backpack. "I have some you may borrow. I know you'll take good care of them."

Santana's perfectly shaped eyebrows shot straight up as she looked at her fellow brunette. "No."

"You can't wear that for the rest of the school day. I've had to do it before, Santana, and trust me, the syrup starts to harden and it gets gummy. Then it begins to stick to everything. Before you know it you have rashes in places you don't want them. Not to men-"

"I get it!" Santana grumbled as she ran her fingers through her hair to get the rest of the ice chunks out before they melted. "The only thing I look forward to every day is glee."

Rachel laughed softly, "I never thought I'd hear you say that."

Santana just shrugged as she turned off the water in the sink. "It's the only place in this hell hole that people treat me like I'm human." She glanced at the clothing in Rachel's hands before sighing and taking it. "I'm going to go use the Cheerios' shower," she accepted the Ziploc bag that had some of Rachel's shampoo and body wash in it with a small smile, "thanks."

"I'll see you in glee?"

Rachel watched as Santana nodded. She kept her eyes on her as she left the bathroom. Rachel felt sorry for the Latina. Ever since a few seniors caught her at Breadstix with another girl, Santana's school life became hell. Rachel turned her attention to the mirror to adjust some of her own make-up. She didn't have time to focus on Santana too long as she noticed one of the far stalls opening. She watched a blond girl, about her height walk up to one of the sinks near her to wash her hands.

"I… kind of overheard everything." The girl spoke softly to Rachel.

Rachel placed her hand on her hip before turning to face the girl. "You must be new here, because I've never seen you before. I may only be a junior, but I know everybody in this school. That girl has been through enough already, she doesn't need any more problems from a new girl."

The blond laughed as she held up her hands in defense. "I was just gonna ask about this glee thing you were talking about."

"Oh, my apologies." The diva extended her hand, "Rachel Berry, and you are?"

"Dani." She glanced at Rachel's hand before taking it gently in her own.

"Can you sing Danielle?"

The blond cringed, it wasn't the first time that had happened to her, and doubted it would be the last, "no, it's just Dani."

Rachel eyed her for a moment. "Alright, Dani… can you sing?"

XXXXXX

For the fifth time since she put the long sleeved shirt on, she forced the sleeves up her arms. She hated wearing someone else's clothing, it never seemed to fit her right. Rachel's sweat pants were just a little too short on her, while, for some reason, the sleeves on her sweater were too long. It didn't make sense. Rachel had legs that went on forever, but was shorter than she was. Santana had expected it to be the other way around with how the clothing fit her.

With a sigh, she entered the choir room, books hugged to her chest as she went. At once she got cleaned up from the incident after lunch, nobody bothered her anymore. It always seemed to be a once a day thing. Just as a reminder to her and to everybody else that she was a lesbian.

"What… on Earth… are you wearing?"

Santana's eyes narrowed as she looked at Puck. "Why don't you ask your little football friends what happened earlier?" She plopped down in her normal seat along the back wall. Just as she had, she spotted Quinn walking toward her.

"Another slushy?" Quinn tossed her bag to the floor before sitting beside her best friend.

"What do you think?"

The blond smirked, "I think you pull off Rachel's animal sweaters very well."

"Can it, Fabray. Nobody asked you."

"Actually, you did, Santana." She gave her friend a once over before lowering her voice, "are you okay?"

Santana ran her fingers through her hair before pulling it over her shoulder and looking straight ahead. Without a second thought, she lied, "yea. I'm fine." She could feel Quinn's eyes on her. She wanted to tell her so badly, she wanted to tell all of her friends so badly, but she couldn't find the words. Quinn asked her every day if she was alright. She also never pushed it once Santana told her she was fine.

"Well, you know I'll listen to you. No matter how much you irritate me."

"Gee, thanks, Quinn." Santana spoke sarcastically before turning to her friend. There was a hint of a smile on her face though. Her and Quinn had always been like that with one another, ever since they had first met.

Brittany claimed the seat on the other side of Santana and kept her eyes on the door as she spoke, "Rachel finally found someone her size to play with."

The Latina's head spun to look at the other blond, "what are you talking about, B?"

"Look, they were like cloned or something. Except that other girl has different color hair… and her face is shaped different… and I think she has bigger boobs."

Santana tilted her head to the side as she looked at Brittany, on her other side, she could practically feel Quinn leaning forward in her chair to look at her fellow blond. "Britt, what are you talking about?"

"Look." Brittany told her again, this time putting her hand on Santana's cheek to force her to turn to the front of the room.

Santana's breath hitched in her throat as her eyes landed on the girl that stood beside Rachel. They appeared to be talking to Mr. Shuester about something. The girl had a gorgeous smile. One that almost rivaled Rachel's in size. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the girl who's name she didn't even know. Santana felt a chill roll over her spine that she hadn't felt before. She didn't even know the girl's name yet. There was something absolutely adorable about the way she tilted her head to the side as she looked up at their teacher. Then she laughed and Santana was done.

"Lopez!" Quinn's hand connected with the back of her friend's head. "Keep it in your pants already."

Santana instantly smacked her friend's hand away from her. "Get off of me."

"She's right though, San. You were drooling." Brittany reached out and made a show of wiping the brunette's chin with her finger.

"Ugh, I hate you two." Santana's arms folded over her chest as she leaned back in her chair with a pout.

Mr. Shuester smiled at the girl beside Rachel, "welcome to the glee club, Dani."

The blonde's eyes grew wide for a moment before she shook her head, "no, no. I'm not joining… I don't think at least. Rachel just convinced me to come and… spectate I guess."

The teacher continued smiling at her anyway. "Well, hopefully you will decide to join us. The more the merrier in here."

Rachel rolled her eyes at her teacher before leading Dani to two of the empty chairs in the front row. "He's always really over the top excited over everything."

Dani laughed softly at her before sitting down. She already felt at home in the room. She felt like she could completely relax and let her walls down. Not right away, but perhaps over time. Dani took a moment to look around the room. She spotted an overly flamboyant boy talking to another guy with his hair practically glued to his head. When she saw them lean in to kiss one another, she couldn't stop herself from smiling. She then saw a guy with some weird Mohawk flexing in some overly dramatic fashion, drawing laughter from a guy in a wheelchair. Along the back of the room, she spotted three girls sitting together. They were all beautiful, but, the one in the middle caught her attention. She could have sworn she heard the name 'Santana' being said to her. 'Was that the girl from the bathroom?' Dani wondered to herself. She didn't have much time to think though as the other girl's eyes met her own for a brief moment. When the brunette smirked softly at her and made no attempt to look away, she could feel the blush covering her own cheeks. Dani forced herself to look to the front of the classroom. 'That has to be her.' Dani dared to glance back again, this time a small smile of her own when her eyes met the brunette's.

Maybe she would like it in the New Directions. She'd always heard good things about the group, and was already starting to see why. The room consisted of what appeared to be the biggest span of social groups possible. From the cheerleaders in the back, to the football players with their letterman jackets, to a guy in a wheelchair with glasses and two gay guys.

"Thanks for bringing me here." Dani spoke softly as she smiled at the girl beside her.


	2. Chapter 2

_Story was originally posted on my Tumblr account. I decided to share it over here to possibly get tangible reviews. Let me know what you think. This story is already complete, as is a part 2 for those that haven't already read it over there._

* * *

 ** _Beautiful  
Chapter 2_**

That voice. That voice was going to be the death of her and she'd only heard it once. She kicked off her shoes just inside the front door of her house before she attempted to go down the hallway. She needed to relax after what she'd heard and seen in glee that afternoon. But, as she stepped up to her bedroom door, she heard her mother call out to her.

A sigh escaped her lips as she stopped to backtrack and go into the kitchen where her mother had been making them dinner. "Yea, mom?"

"How was school, Dani? Did you make any new friends?" She moved a pan off of the burner before turning to look at her daughter. She was so scared of how the new school would accept Dani. Especially it being smaller than her last school had been.

The teen's face lit up, "actually, I did."

"Well?" The older woman leaned against the counter and watched her daughter approach her.

Dani started to recount her day at school, starting with the incident she overheard in the bathroom. How it led her to meeting Rachel, and Rachel talking her into sitting in on the glee club to see if she would like it. She bit her lip as she remembered Santana. She never actually talked to the brunette, but they did share several looks throughout glee.

"I know that look, Dani. What's she like?"

"There is no look, mom. Her name's Santana and we didn't talk. She's got an amazing voice though. She's being picked on everyday, from what I've heard," Dani frowned.

"Be careful, Dani. Remember what happened?" The girl nodded to her mother. "Just… please be careful." The older woman pleaded as she moved around the island to pull the girl into her arms.

"I know, mom. Don't worry. I think things are going to be different here." Dani melted into her mother's arms. It was the only place she'd ever felt completely safe with everything that had happened to her over the past month. "I'm going to go and do my homework before dinner, okay?" She slowly pulled away from her mother.

"I just worry that the same thing will happen."

"It won't happen again. I'll be more careful this time. But, I will tell you this… If it does happen again, you'll be the first to know."

"Dani, they threatened to kill you."

The teen winced at the words. Of course she remembered what happened. She took a deep breath before walking out of the kitchen. It had happened about two weeks ago, when she'd been cornered at her old school. She quickly shook her head to rid herself of the memories as she opened the door to her bedroom. Once she was safely inside, she closed the door behind her and laid down on her bed.

* * *

Her backpack was thrown to the ground as soon as she entered her house. She ignored the way her mother called out to her and the way her father looked at her. The Latina took the steps two at a time. The quicker she got to her bedroom, the better it would be. With the door slammed shut behind her she threw herself onto her bed and completely lost control over her emotions.

Tough skin at school, broken at home. It was the life of Santana Lopez.

Her arms wrapped around her pillow as she buried her face into it to muffle her sobs. Why wouldn't it stop? Why wouldn't they stop singling her out from everybody else? They had even started to completely leave Kurt alone. Everything had been redirected toward her. And, for some reason, to her it felt like it was ten times worse than anything Kurt had dealt with.

"Dammit!" She threw her hand down onto her mattress as hard as she could in frustration.

"Mija?"

"Go away, mami." Santana sniffled as she turned her head away from the door. She didn't want to see anybody. Her eyes closed as she tried to calm her nerves. She knew her mom wouldn't be leaving her alone, she never did.

"Mija, talk to me. Please… I'm worried about you." Maribel sighed as she sat on the edge of Santana's bed. She reached out to rub the girl's back. Her hand barely came in contact with the younger Latina before she sat up and practically threw herself into her arms. "Shh, I got you." Maribel whispered into her daughter's hair while holding her tightly.

It felt like an eternity to Santana. As hard as she tried, she couldn't stop her tears from falling. Her parents were the only people that knew about her problems at school. She knew they'd attempted to talk to Figgins about it, but he only claimed he couldn't do anything unless Santana actually reported it herself. "It… it won't stop…"

"I told you, honey. Talk to that Principal of yours. He can help you."

"No he won't." Santana cringed some at the way she snapped at her mother. Thankfully, her mother had gotten used to it over the past few weeks. "He didn't do anything with Kurt last year, why would he do anything with me?"

Maribel pulled back some to cup her daughter's cheeks. She looked right into her eyes as she spoke, "your papi and I are willing to homeschool you, mija." Santana instantly started shaking her head. "Why not? It's only October and look what this has done to you."

"It'll fade. They'll get bored and move on to something else. They always do. That's how the people at that God-forsaken school are. All of them are so narrow minded, they'll all forgot about it soon."

The older woman sighed. She hoped that her daughter was right. "What about your friends? Brittany, Quinn… and what's that other girl's name? Rachel right? Do they help you?"

Santana couldn't help but laugh softly as she motioned down to the hideous sweater she was wearing. "Where do you think this came from? They slushied me after lunch, and I didn't have anything to change into. But… Rachel did."

"That Rachel's a good girl," Maribel smiled, "I'm glad you settled your differences with her."

"Yea, me too, mami." Santana sniffled some before she reached up to wipe at her eyes, careful not to mess up her eyeliner.

"Go and get cleaned up, dinner will be ready soon." Before Maribel had a chance to stand up, Santana grabbed her hand to keep her beside her. "What is it?"

"There was this new girl at school today…"

The older woman's eyebrows shot up, "oh really?"

Santana didn't know anything about the girl. She only knew her name and that she was someone Rachel had met sometime between lunch and glee. "Her name's Dani… that's all I know. Like… we didn't even talk. She might join Glee."

Maribel smiled at her daughter, "that club is the only place you feel like you belong, and they accept you for you. Those kids are really good kids."

Santana couldn't hide her smile anymore. She loved her mother and how understanding she was to everything she ever told her. "I know, mami." Maribel laughed at her, causing Santana to blush more.

"Try talking to her. The new girl," she shrugged, "see what happens."

* * *

Rachel was on a mission. It was the end of the school day, and while she should have been on her way to glee, she was on her way to find her new friend. A smile plastered itself across her face as she spotted Dani gathering her things from her locker. "Dani." She called out as she approached the blond. "I hope you're planning on coming to glee rehearsal today."

Dani glanced around for a moment before smiling shyly at Rachel. "I was… thinking about it, why?"

"We took a vote and we would love to hear you audition for the club."

Dani's smile instantly fell. "Um… no, I think I'll pass then." She quickly closed her locker and started to walk away. She frowned some when she felt Rachel's hand wrap around the bracelet on her wrist.

"Please? We don't judge anybody, and you seemed to really enjoy it yesterday. Just give it a shot." Rachel sensed the girls discomfort and pulled her hand away from her wrist. "We're going to be in the auditorium until 4 today… if you decide to change your mind." Rachel threw her a wide smile before she started to back away. "I hope you do change your mind though."

When Dani watched Rachel disappear around the corner, she found herself to be torn. She hadn't been welcomed into any type of group since the prior school year. It was a strange feeling to her. But, one that brought a smile to her face. But, none of them knew her past. She knew it was safest that way. With a sigh, she walked in the direction of the front door.

Down the hallway in the auditorium, Santana was already up on stage dancing with Brittany. They were waiting for the teacher to get there and trying to kill time. She laughed when the blond dipped her down. Something that wasn't uncommon when they danced. Santana often forgot how strong her childhood friend actually was.

"Alright guys, Regionals are coming up in less than a month. We need to start perfecting our routine." Mr. Schuester announced as he came onto the stage. "Brittany and Mike, I think we already decided that you guys are gonna do a dance number." The pair nodded before moving to the side, knowing they would be working on their routine during their practice.

"I still don't agree with those songs that _you_ chose, Mr. Schue."

"It's not up for discussion, Santana."

The Latina rolled her eyes before she folded her arms over her chest. She knew she wasn't the only one to think that, but she was the only one who actually said something. Rachel threw her an apologetic look before moving onto her position on the stage.

Soon their rehearsal began. It started off slow like it always did with them all going over their dance moves again.

"Hey, Santana… look." Quinn leaned close to her friend to whisper. Her eyes were looking up near the back of the auditorium where Dani stood by the door. She was watching them.

Santana saw exactly what Quinn was talking about when she followed her line of sight. Meeting Dani's eyes threw Santana out of sync, causing her to bump into Marley and both of them hit the stage floor. "Ow…" she groaned from flat on her back.

"You guys okay?" Rachel knelt down beside Santana, while Puck offered Marley his hand. "What happened?" Quinn tilted her head up toward the door, when Rachel turned around, realization quickly dawned on her about Santana and why she was acting strange the day before as well as on stage now. "Really, Santana?" The diva stood up before offering the Latina her hand.

Santana rubbed the back of her head which was already starting to ache. She was starting to get tired of hitting her head on various places around the store. "Mr. Schue, we have a spy." Santana looked back up and locked eyes with Dani. It was obvious the girl had been laughing. She stood at the back of the auditorium, her hand was over her mouth, but her eyes appeared narrowed some.

The teacher looked at Santana, before turning to look in the same direction she had been. "Dani… come on, join us."

Dani took an obvious deep breath as she made her way down the ramp. "Rachel invited me again." She placed her backpack on the floor where she saw a pile of what she assumed to be everybody else's.

"So, you're going to audition?" Rachel beamed at her.

Santana's eyes nearly popped out of her head at what Rachel said, "wait, what?"

The new girl bit her lip nervously as she looked up at everybody that was up on the stage. "I'm not the best, but I can hold a tune." She glanced at Santana who gave her an encouraging nod.

"Come on then, show us what you got." Mr. Schuester motioned to the stage to invite her up.

Dani took a deep breath to calm her nerves. There had only been a few people that have heard her sing before. Her mom being one of them. While she was told she had an amazing voice, she never actually believed it. But, being in a new school, around new people, seemed to give her a bit of confidence that she never found she had before.

"Do you mind if I borrow this?" She motioned to the guitar that one of the band members held in his hands. Dani tossed him a smile and whispered a soft, "thank you," to him. She placed the strap over her shoulder before adjusting it to the right height for her.

Santana soon found she couldn't take her eyes off of the girl. She'd joined the rest of the group in the seats of the first row. Santana had barely said two words that were remotely directed to her and she was undeniably attracted to her. Now, to top it all off, she apparently played the guitar. She watched intently as Dani strummed the guitar strings a few times before starting a simple rhythm.

" _It's probably what's best for you, I only want the best for you, and if I'm not the best thing you're stuck. I tried to sever ties and I ended up with wounds to bind, like you're pouring salt in my cuts…_ " Dani's voice was different, raspy, husky. The guitar looked a little too big for her, but she could handle it. Her eyes stayed shut the entire time, only opening them when she needed to switch chords.

" _And I just ran out of band-aids, I don't even know where to start. 'Cause you can bandage the damage, you never really can fix a heart…_ " Mr. Shue was bobbing his head, watching her intently. She had a few things to work on, yes, but she was good. She was in. He already knew that for a fact. " _Even though I know what's wrong, how could I be so sure if you never say what you feel? I must've held your hand so tight, you didn't have the will to fight, I guess you needed more time to heal…_ " She sang the chorus again, only her voice was up an octave. It was more… angry. Like she was singing for someone.

" _You must, be a, miracle, worker_ ," she paused between the verse, trying to keep up with her strumming. " _Swearing upand down you can fix what's been broken, yeah. Please don't, get my, hopes up, no no. Baby tell me how could you, be so cruel…"_ The strumming slowed down. " _It's like you're pouring salt in my cu-uts…"_ She paused the strumming and singing, getting claps from the Glee club. She smiled and the singing became more intense as she sang, " _Baby I ju-ust ran out, of band-aids. I don't even know where to start. 'Cause you can ba-andage the da-amage you never really can fix a heart, no, no, no, no. You never really can fix a heart, no, no, no, no. You never really can fix my heart…"_

Once they were sure she was done, Mr. Shuester stood up and started clapping, "That… wow, that was incredible, Dani." He led the applause from the group.

The blond on stage smiled shyly as she gripped the neck of the guitar tightly. She'd never done anything like that before and was quite surprised she was able to get through it.

"Who was that song by?" Puck asked as he leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees.

"Yea, it was beautiful." Quinn turned her attention from the girl to her friend before shaking her head, "Santana, drool." She reached out to push her chin back up, effectively closing her mouth.

The Latina smacked her friend's hand away from her, blushing when she heard Dani laughing. "Are you trying to kill me with embarrassment, Fabray?" She whispered angrily to the girl beside her.

Dani took the guitar off and walked back to hand it to the band member she borrowed it from. "I actually wrote it… over the summer. I know it's not the greatest."

"It was nice." Santana spoke directly to Dani. Her words caused the blond to blush deeper. "So, we letting her in?" Santana stood up to look at the group. Everybody was a little shocked by Santana's sudden team effort. It was something the girl rarely showed.

"The girl can sing, my problem though, we got Regionals in a month. We've been working so hard on everything." Mercedes spoke up, earning some agreement from Blaine, Kurt, and Kitty.

Santana, without a second thought in her mind, folded her arms over her chest as she shrugged, "I'll help her learn the routines."

Brittany leaned across the chair that Santana had left empty to whisper to her fellow blond. "Total… connection." She kept her attention on the pair at the stage who just appeared to be in some kind of a staring contest.

"Agreed." Quinn examined the new girl. She wasn't sure what she thought of her, but there was obviously something that she was missing to cause Santana, the queen of secrecy, to be drawn to her.

* * *

 _Drop a review? Let me know what you're thinking ;)_


	3. Chapter 3

Here's chapter 3 for everybody. I'm starting to see that Dantana has died down some over the years, oh well. I still enjoy the glee fics. I'm going to try to remember to post a chapter a day as I continue working on the third part to this story :D Enjoy. Don't forget to drop a review.

* * *

 ** _Beautiful  
Chapter 3_**

"So, um… what made you write that song?" Santana walked beside Dani across the parking lot after glee rehearsal.

The blond kept her eyes trained on the ground as she spoke, "I had a bad break-up over the summer." It was the only way she knew she could describe it without giving away too much of what had happened at her last school.

"He must have been a real jerk." Santana decided to test the waters with her wording. She got a feeling from Dani that a guy wasn't the case, but she definitely wanted to make sure.

"Something like that," she spoke softly as she tilted her head up to the side to look at Santana.

The pair came to a stop at Santana's car as she dug into her bag for her keys. "Where's your car at?"

"Oh, I don't have one… I live pretty close so I just walk."

The brunette eyed her for a moment. She wanted to offer her a ride home, but she'd only just met the girl and didn't want to frighten her away by seeming too forward. "Alright… I'll uh, I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yea," she couldn't stop the smile that came to her face as she looked into Santana's eyes again. There was definitely something about the taller Latina that drew her in. It was becoming obvious to Dani, that Santana was feeling the same thing toward her, but was also being cautious. "See you." She lifted her hand to wave before hooking her thumbs in the straps of her backpack and walking away. Once she got a little further away, she glanced over her shoulder and was pleased to find that Santana was still watching her. Yup, Santana felt the connection too.

Santana went to reach into her backpack for her phone to send Quinn a text, only to realize it wasn't there. "Shit," she cursed herself as she started the engine and pulled her car up to the front of the building. Hopefully her phone was in the auditorium. It must have fallen out of her pocket. She shut her car off when she was in front of the entrance closest to the auditorium. After shutting off the engine, she grabbed her keys and went back into the building.

"Thank goodness," she spoke to herself when she saw the red device sitting on the floor by the stage. She picked up the phone from the floor and unlocked the screen. As she walked out of the auditorium, she stared down at the phone to type out a text message to her best friend.

"Lookie what we got here."

Santana instantly froze. She debated for a brief moment as to whether or not she should just keep walking, but part of her feared for what would happen to her. It was after school hours, there were very few teachers still left in the building. At such a late time, she even wondered if there was anybody left other than that janitor who wears the headphones while he cleaned.

"What're you doing dyke?"

"Getting my phone, what's it to you?"

"Maybe if you didn't have your head stuck up that new girl's ass you wouldn't be so forgetful."

"The new girl has a name." Santana looked back down at her phone. Just as she hit the send button, Karofsky snatched it from her hand and slammed it down to the ground. "The actual fuck." Santana saw red at that point, she didn't care if there were two of them and one of her. She swung at the taller footballer. A hiss of pain escaped her teeth at the way her hand stung upon the impact with Karofsky's jaw.

"Now, my mom taught me to never hit a girl… never said nothing about hitting one that hit me first." Santana doubled over in pain when his fist connected with her stomach. It knocked the wind out of her and caused tears to sting the corners of her eyes. "Maybe next time you'll know your place. Down on your knees, where you belong." He high-fived Azimio as they both left her on the floor.

With shaking hands, she reached for the pieces of her phone. When it hit the floor, the back flew off of it and the battery popped out. When she pieced it back together, she flipped it around only to notice the screen was shattered. After taking a deep breath, she stood up and slowly walked out of the school. Her mind was racing as she went to her car. She barely noticed the phone vibrate in her hand, telling her she received a new text message. Once Santana was in her car she looked at the screen and prayed it would work so she could text Quinn back.

 _Quinn: Yea, sure. I can come over like 7?_

Santana silently prayed that her phone worked, she had to press a lot harder on the screen to get it to register her touches, but it worked long enough to respond to her friend.

 _Santana: Just got home. Mom's sick. Maybe tomorrow_

The response came almost instantly.

 _Quinn: Uh, no you're not. I see your car at the school, what's going on?_

Santana's eyes shot up. She frowned when she spotted Quinn near her own car. It appeared as though she was chatting with Rachel. She quickly wiped at her eyes before she threw her phone onto the passenger seat and started the engine. Santana never replied to her as she sped away from the school. She couldn't go home, not right away at least. Her stomach was hurting her too much, and it would be too obvious to her mother that something wasn't right.

The only thing that lit up her mood some was when she passed Dani who was walking along the sidewalk. She glanced up into her rear view mirror as the blond crossed the road, heading into an apartment complex. Well, at least Dani didn't lie to her when she said she lived close by.

Santana's hand came to rest on the spot where Karofsky's fist had made friends with her stomach. "Fuck." She pushed out through clenched teeth. The area he struck was swollen and tender to the touch. Cheerios practice in the morning would definitely be rough. With what she said to them, and how she constantly talked back to them, she guessed she deserved it. She deserved the response she had gotten. "Stupid." She slammed her right hand on the steering wheel. Had she not punched him, would he of hit her? She didn't know.

After taking the long way to get to her house, she pulled into the driveway. That's when she noticed how swollen her hand had become. Doing any type of school work the next day would be interesting. She gathered her composure before grabbing her backpack and heading into the house. She ignored the way her phone vibrated again as she kicked her shoes off at the door and walked up the steps without so much as a word to her parents.

Once she was safely in her bedroom, she closed and locked the door behind her. Santana then reached for the power button of her stereo. Once music filled the room, she cranked it up to drown out all other sounds in her house, and in her head. It was all she knew. All she could do to relax. The Latina stripped out of her Cheerios uniform, which was miraculously left untouched that day. Another hiss escaped her mouth as she tried and failed to unhook her bra. Instead of fighting with it, she just pulled it up and over her head. It could be dealt with later on. Using her right hand had never been much of a strong point for Santana, but she found herself stuck doing it as she dug through her dresser. Eventually she decided on a long sleeve, thin white shirt and a pair of black pajama pants with rubber ducks all over them. She couldn't help but chuckle every time she saw them. Leave it to Brittany with her ducks.

Once she got dressed, she stretched out on her bed, on her back and just stared at her ceiling. How had her world come to this? Her hand throbbed, her stomach ached, and she now feared for her safety whenever she was near Karofsky and Azimio. There was no way she would stand a chance against them together. Silent tears started breaking free from her eyes. Santana made no attempt to wipe them away as they slid down the side of her head and got lost somewhere in her hair. She just didn't care anymore…

XXXXXX

"I'm worried about her, Quinn." Rachel walked with the taller blond up the pathway from Santana's driveway to her front door.

As much as Quinn hated to admit it, she did too. All she could do was not to her friend. "We'll figure it out." She reached out to knock on the door before pushing it open. "Hello?" She called out as she entered the house. She knew better than to wait for someone to answer the door. All the times she'd been there over the years, it finally got to the point where she was told to just walk in.

"Quinn, what a nice surprise." Maribel came up to the blond and wrapped her up in a hug, "and Rachel, nice to see you girls."

"We're going to assume Santana's here?" Rachel questioned, "her car's outside… and well, we could hear the music before we even came in."

Maribel sighed as she looked at the girls in front of her. "I don't know how to help her…"

Quinn nodded in full understanding. "We'll be upstairs with her, Maribel." The older woman nodded as she watched the girls walk up the stairs. "I bet her door's locked." Quinn tried it and chuckled softly when she realized she was right. "Do you have a bobby pin. I only have one." She pulled it from her hair without a second thought.

"What are you doing?" Rachel questioned, but started to dug into her purse anyway.

"Unlocking her door." Quinn spoke as if it was something that everybody did on a regular basis. She smiled as she was handed another pin. She used her teeth to unfold both of them before she started working on the lock.

Rachel covered her eyes to keep from seeing her friend at work, "how did you? Wait… never mind, I don't want to know."

"Friends with Santana, and Puck." Was all Quinn had to say for Rachel to catch on. "And…" she twisted the doorknob, proud when the door opened under her touch, "we're in."

Rachel just shook her head. She couldn't find anything to say as she followed the blond into Santana's room. She eyed her fellow brunette on the bed. Her heart broke as she spotted the tears freely falling from her unblinking eyes. Santana didn't even seem to react when Quinn shut off her stereo.

"San?" Quinn spoke gently as she approached the bed. It was obvious that the Latina had been stuck in her thoughts. "Hey, Santana…"

What happened when Quinn touched a pant covered leg, scared both of them. Santana gasped loudly and jerked away from the touch. When she looked at Quinn and Rachel, there was nothing but fear in her eyes. "When… when did you guys get here?"

Rachel helped herself to sitting on the bed beside Santana, "a few minutes ago…" she trailed off as she took note of her friend's behavior. "Santana, we're worried about you."

"Don't be, I'm fine." She rolled onto her side to face away from them. Her eyes clenched shut. There was nothing more that she wanted then for them to just leave her alone.

Quinn made her way to the other side of the bed to sit down. "I call bull shit. What happened?" There was no response. Santana didn't even open her eyes. "We saw you go back into the school." That was all it took for a sob to break free from Santana. Quinn, without a second's thought, wrapped her friend in a tight hug. Seeing Santana break down like that, scared her. It was something she'd never experience before from her usual fiery friend. "Honey, we can't help you unless you talk to us." She glanced at Rachel, who appeared just as worried as she was. Santana mumbled something against Quinn's shoulder.

"Karofsky?" Rachel questioned. She'd heard most of what Santana had mumbled. She was forced to swallow back her own tears when Santana nodded. "What happened?"

Still, Santana didn't speak. She pulled away from Quinn to retrieve her phone from her purse. It was then tossed onto the bed. Rachel grabbed it and flipped it over to see the spider web crack that covered the entire screen. After taking a deep breath, Santana then held out her swollen left hand.

"I just got so mad…" Santana answered the question she knew they were going to ask.

The phone still in her hand, Rachel quickly left the room, "getting ice," was all she said.

Santana didn't speak to the tenderness of her stomach. She hated when people worried about her. She always told herself that no matter what happened, she would be strong enough to get through it. There wasn't anything she couldn't handle on her own.

* * *

 _ **Don't forget to drop a review. Loved it? Hated it? Let me know.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_How's everybody doing today? Here's chapter 4 for your enjoyment ;)_

 _Drop a review if you're feeling so inclined._

* * *

 ** _Chapter 4_**

"Get in there already."

"No."

"If you don't go in that office, I will." Quinn kept her friend pinned against the glass wall, preventing her from running.

Santana stared in the taller girl's eyes. She hated herself for telling her and Rachel what had happened. As soon as they had, both Quinn and Rachel decided that she was going to tell Figgins. Santana didn't even have the opportunity to fight them. She hated that they had her cornered, literally. She was never one to tell people her problems. For a moment, she thought back to how she dealt with being gay, and how she had kept it to herself for so long.

"I… I can't, Q." Santana's eyes moved away from Quinn's to look at the tiles by her feet.

"Do you want me to go in with you?" When the Latina nodded, Quinn offered her, her arm then pulled open the office door. "It's going to be okay, Santana." She smiled sadly at her friend as she led her into the office. "We have to talk to Figgins," she spoke directly to the secretary.

Santana gripped Quinn's arm tightly. He was looking everywhere except at her friend, or at the secretary that Quinn spoke with. "I can't do this, Quinn." She started to back away, only to be grabbed by Quinn. "Let go of me."

"No. Please, Santana." Quinn refused to let go of her friend.

"Quinn, you don't understand, they're going to kill me." The worlds left her mouth before she could stop them. The office instantly went quiet as the blond and the secretary took in her words.

Santana was frightened, obviously so. Quinn stepped forward to wrap her arms tightly around the shorter girl. "We'll keep you safe, San. They won't hurt you anymore."

The secretary paged into the Principal's office before getting up to open the door for them. "Go ahead in, girls."

"Miss Lopez, Miss Fabray. To what do I owe this honor?" Figgins spoke as soon as the pair was in his office.

When Quinn realized that Santana wasn't talking, she sat down on the sofa with her arms still wrapped around her. "Santana had a confrontation with Karofsky and Azimio yesterday."

Quinn proceeded to tell him everything she knew, just from what Santana had told her. She didn't know about the punch that the Latina had taken until Figgins brought up the security camera from the front entrance to the building.

"That's why you were slow in practice this morning…" Quinn looked at Santana with a frown. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Didn't want to." Santana kept her eyes on the ground.

"I hope you know that my hands are tied here, Santana." He sighed as he pulled some paperwork out of his desk. "You were the one to throw the first punch."

"You've got to be kidding me. She's the one that got hurt." Quinn snapped at him.

"She threw the first punch. I have to suspend her. Once I finish this, I will be calling David into my office."

Santana shook her head. "It's fine. I shouldn't have lost my temper."

"It's not fine, Santana. This is bull shit."

"Would you like to join her suspension, miss Fabray?" He glanced up at her before looking back down at his paperwork.

"You gonna tell him about all the times he's harassed you?"

Santana looked up at her best friend. She knew Quinn wasn't going to let it go. So, as Figgins filled out her suspension paperwork, she started to recall every single time she'd been slushied since the start of the school year, as well as the countless times they've shoved her into a locker or wall in the hallway.

By the time she finished talking, she was hating Quinn. She hated having to tell someone outside of her family everything that she had been dealing with. Santana reached out to sign the paper when Figgins offered it to you. "Can I go now?" The Principal nodded and she left the office before Quinn had a chance to stop her.

She kept her jaw clenched as she pushed her way through the students in the hallway. She ignored the looks she received, as well as the whispers. She was used to them. Santana came to a stop at her locker, her hands shook as she put in her combination. Just as she opened the door, it was slammed shut again and Karofsky was standing in front of her.

"Look what you did to me." He pointed to the obvious purple mark on the side of his face.

"Purple's a good color on you." She reached out to open her locker again, but it was slammed shut.

"You better watch your back, Lopez." He kept his hand on her locker to keep her from opening it.

Just down the hall, Dani was watching the girl with a curious expression. She'd started tuning out half of what Puck had been saying to her. She was smart enough to figure out that the guy was obviously hitting on her, but she didn't care. Something was wrong with Santana.

"Dani? Anybody in there?" Puck waved his hand in front of her face, causing her to look up at him. "So, what do you say we hang out sometime?"

She laughed softly at him, "I don't think so."

Puck nudged her playfully. "Come on, I'm hot, you're hot. We could run this place."

Dani blushed at his words. It wasn't often that someone called her hot. "Thank you, but I think I'll pass."

He eyed her for a moment, the gears in his head turning as he thought about how she was so adamant on denying him. Before he could say anything though, Karofsky's voice echoed through the hallway. "You stupid faggot. I'm fucking talking to you."

"Oh, hell no." Puck placed his hand on Dani's shoulder to move by her without bumping her. "You got a problem?" He grabbed the footballer's shoulder to pull him away from his friend.

"Look what this dyke did to my face." He motioned to the bruise.

Puck snickered at him, "Santana always could throw a punch. But, she never throws a punch unless provoked. What did ya do to her?" He started pinning the slightly shorter guy against the lockers.

"Puck…" Santana grabbed the guy's arm to pull him back, she then stepped between them and placed her hands on his chest. "Puck, he's not worth it. Please."

"Sure he is. He needs to be knocked down a peg or two."

The Latina kept her hands on his chest to hold him back, knowing he would never push her out of the way. "Please… just let it go. It's over with." She moved her hand up his cheek to cause him to look down at her. "Please," she continued to plead with him.

Puck looked down at the girl holding him at bay. He'd never heard the tone that Santana was using with him before. There was something much deeper than what he had just seen was going on. "You better watch yourself Karofsky." He pointed at his fellow football player.

"You and your stupid little glee club shit, makes you no better than her." He waved his hand at the pair before walking away.

The entire time, Dani was watching from her locker. She watched as Santana and Puck shared a few more words before the guy punched a locker and walked away. Whatever she had said to him, obviously made him mad. Santana let out a sigh before going back to her locker and gathering her books. Dani watched as the girl slung her backpack over her shoulder as she walked toward the front entrance of the building, car keys in hand.

* * *

Dani walked into the choir room and found her usual seat beside Rachel. That's when she heard people starting to talk. All of the people around her asked where Santana was. She was curious too, she hadn't seen the girl ever since she walked away with her backpack in her hands. But, Dani knew she also didn't know the girl well enough to ask questions.

"Where's Santana? I haven't seen her since this morning in the hall."

"Quinn? I saw you with her this morning. You know what's going on?" The blond shook her head, it wasn't her place to say. The whole incident that morning had her pissed all day. "How can you not know?"

"Back off it, Mercedes." Quinn snapped as she made her way to the back row of chairs to sit beside Brittany.

The group of students slowly turned to look at the girl. "Obviously you know something, Quinn." That time it was Kurt.

"It's none of your business, Kurt." The questions continued though. Quinn could feel her resolve slowly breaking. For the most part, she'd been able to keep her calm throughout the day. But having them asking continuously. "She got fucking suspended for punching Karofsky in the face!" Silence again filled the room as they all just stared at her. "Are you happy now?"

Puck didn't react to Quinn's words. He had been just as irritated over the whole thing. After he stepped in to help her, she had told him what had happened. Not a lot of details, but she still talked about the suspension.

Dani shook her head. It wasn't fair that the poor girl got bullied on a daily basis, for something that Dani still didn't know. But she was the one to get in trouble for finally snapping. She looked down at the ground as she remembered her own incident at her last school.

"Alright guys, quiet down." Mr. Schuester finally decided to make his presence known. The students looked up at him as he pulled a stool up in front of them. "I can tell that you all know about Santana."

"What the hell, Mr. Shue. It's not right. She gets bullied all the time and she gets in trouble?" Tina spoke on behalf of everybody in the room.

"She got in trouble because Figgins saw on the security tape that she threw the first punch… but, he retaliated against her."

"What happened to him? He needs punished too. They didn't do anything when he was after me," Kurt kept his hand tightly in Blaine's as he and everybody else looked at their teacher.

"David was expelled. Apparently there was a lot more that happened other than the confrontation yesterday."

"About time they did something. Everybody turns a blind eye to everything in this school. I can't wait to get out of here."

"Quinn, there's nothing anybody can do if nobody reports it."

"Look at the damn slushies. How can the teachers in this place not know that they happen all the time! I'm sick of it, Mr. Shue," Quinn practically yelled at her teacher.

Mr. Shuester sighed before clasping his hands together and leaning onto his knees. "That's why I wanted to talk to you guys. When Santana comes back, you guys need to watch out for her. I know I'm not the only one that's noticed she's been acting differently since all of this started happening. We're supposed to be a family in here. Everybody comes in here to feel at home, to let themselves go… to let their walls down. Santana needs that support outside of here, just like Kurt needed it last year."

Dani continued to watch and listen to the man as he talked. She didn't know him, but already felt herself drawn to him. She could feel comfortable in that room to be herself.

"I don't get it Mr. Shue. Why does anybody care that she's gay? Nobody in here does."

Dani's eyes shot over to the tall, lanky guy at his words. That's what it was. Santana was gay and everybody thought it was a good idea to constantly remind her of it. "Finn, you're an idiot. We live in back waters Ohio. Just because we're all okay with it, doesn't mean everybody else is. People like us aren't welcomed here. Look at Rachel's dads, they've dealt with harassment for as long as we've all known Rachel, and who knows how long before that. It's not just high school, Finn. It's life in this hell-hole."

"I don't get it though."

"Really Finn? Are you that stupid?" Quinn shot in, "not everybody is open like we are."

"Quinn's right guys. Not everybody is as open and welcoming as we are in here. When Santana comes back next week, you guys have got to promise me to watch out for her." He watched them slowly nod, even Dani was nodding. "Alright… With all that said I'm not going to keep everybody today. It doesn't appear as though anybody's really in the mood. So, I'll see everybody tomorrow."

Dani reached down to gather her backpack. She spotted Rachel going back to talk to Quinn. After slinging her back over her shoulder, she started walking toward the door.

"Dani, wait a second." Rachel called out for her.

The blond turned to look at her friend. "What's up, Rachel?"

"Well, Quinn and I are going to see Santana, would you like to join us. She did offer to teach you our routine, so getting her mind occupied would probably be for the best. Especially with everything that's going on. Plus," Rachel winked, "I think she'll like it."

A blush covered the blonde's cheeks, she glanced over Rachel's should to look up at Quinn. She hadn't talked with the other girl much. She was leery, but Rachel seemed so willing to befriend her. It was something she wasn't used to at all. "I guess so."

"Great!" Rachel grabbed Dani's hand to lead her over to Quinn. "Quinn, are you driving?"

"No, you can."

Dani bit her lip as she followed the girls out of the choir room, just as they reached the main door, she spoke, "do either of you have a phone I could use to call my mom?"

Quinn eyed her for a moment, before producing her phone and unlocking the screen for her. "You don't have one of your own?"

"No…" Dani shook her head as she typed in her home phone number before lifting the phone to her ear. She sighed, partially relieved when the answering machine picked up, "hey mom, it's Dani. I'm gonna hang out with some friends for a little while. If you need me," she glanced at Quinn who nodded. "Go ahead and call me back on this number. And don't worry, I'll be safe." She ended the call with the answering machine and handed the phone back to Quinn.

"What do you mean 'you'll be safe.'" Rachel questioned as they started going toward the parking lot.

"Oh, it's just something I always tell her, and something she always tells me." Dani quickly played it off as she followed the pair to Rachel's car.

Quinn continued silently watching the girl. To the Cheerio, it was obvious that she was hiding something. But, she didn't want to pry and scare the new girl away. She seemed nice enough and was curious to see what she was like after getting to know her some more.

* * *

 _Don't forget that review all you wonderful people_


	5. Chapter 5

_Thank you guys for the story follows and the few reviews so far. I wasn't expecting much to be honest, I know Glee has kind of died off, or at least Dantana has died off, sadly._

* * *

 ** _Beautiful  
Chapter 5_**

"So, where are you from, Dani?" Quinn spun around in her passenger seat to look at the girl in the back.

"I transferred over from Carmel High…" She spoke softly.

Quinn watched her reaction to her question, "did… something happen?" Dani shook her head. She didn't want to talk about it. Quinn took notice of it and decided not to push it. "How do you like it here so far?"

A smile came to Dani's face as she finally looked up to meet Quinn's eyes. "I like it. I like the people I've met so far."

"You know… the glee club is a place where you can really let yourself be who you are… I learned that last year when I joined."

Dani watched Quinn as she smiled at her, then turned her attention to Rachel in the driver's seat. They started to fall into their own conversation. Dani tuned most of it out as she got lost in her own thoughts. Quinn just told her that she could be herself in that club. She hadn't felt that way since she was in middle school. She never felt like she fit in anywhere she was at. There were her moments at Carmel where she was accepted, but most of the time, she wasn't. She was just another kid in the halls that nobody talked to.

"We're here." Rachel announced as she pulled into Santana's driveway.

Dani looked up at the house. It was gorgeous. Much bigger than anything she'd ever lived in. She instantly felt like she didn't belong. Dani wasn't in their social class. It was just her and her mom in a small apartment on the bad side of town. It was all they could afford. She knew that once they had settled in, and she had settled into school, she'd end up finding a job to help out with her mom at home.

"Are you alright?" Rachel dared to ask the girl who was off in her own world.

"Yea, I'm fine. No worries." She left her backpack in Rachel's car before she started to follow the other girls up to the front door. She watched as Quinn knocked on it then opened it up herself. She stopped at the doorway, unsure if she should just walk in too.

Rachel noticed her discomfort and grabbed Dani's hand to drag her into the house too. "You're coming too."

"Quinn, Rachel…" Maribel smiled at them when she walked in from the kitchen. She did, however, tilt her head to the side as she looked at the girl she didn't recognize. "And who is your friend?" She extended her hand toward Dani.

"Maribel, this is our new friend, Dani. She's new to McKinley."

Maribel gave the girl a once over, remembering what her daughter had told her two days ago about the new. She smiled in approval at the girl, but didn't actually mention anything Santana had told her. "It's nice to meet you Dani. Santana has been in her room since she got home…"

"Kind of figured, at least there's no music blaring like yesterday." Quinn led the trio up the steps and tried opening Santana's door, only to find it locked again. The blond reached up into her hair for a bobby pin, pulling laughter from Rachel in the process. "I swear, this girl and her door."

"Why don't you try knocking, Quinn?" Rachel scolded her before knocking on the door.

"Go away."

Quinn motioned to the door as if to tell Rachel, 'I told you so.' She then held her hand out expectantly for another bobby pin. "Quinn, you used the only one I had yesterday. I don't have anymore."

Dani bit her lip before reaching out to take the pin from Quinn. She knelt down in front of the door before breaking the pin into two pieces. It felt awkward, yes, she hadn't picked a lock in over a year. But, to her, it was just like riding a bike. A smirk came to her face when she heard the tumblers inside the lock moving the way she wanted them.

"Why is it everybody can pick a lock, but I can't?" Rachel huffed.

"That's because you're a goody two shoes, Berry." Quinn nodded at Dani. "Nice."

When Dani stood back up, Quinn opened up the door to Santana's room. "Quinn, what's up with this new habit of you breaking into my room?" Santana's voice started to fade away to nothing as her eyes landed on Dani. "What's going on?"

"It actually wasn't me this time." Quinn glanced at her fellow blond. "Apparently this shy girl here, has some talents that none of us know about."

"Oh, really?" Santana's gaze remained fixed on Dani as the girl made her way to Santana's black dish chair to sit down. "So, you can sing, play the guitar, and pick locks… kind of an interesting skill set."

A heavy blush covered Dani's cheeks as she tried her hardest not to look at Santana. But when their eyes met, she felt another chill roll down her spine. She couldn't pull her eyes away from her. Especially now that she knew that Santana was gay. It only confirmed her suspicions. "I guess I'm full of surprises."

Rachel glanced over at Dani, then looked at Santana. A smirk grew to her face before she leaned in to whisper into Quinn's ears. "We should make up something to leave early. Look at them."

Quinn nodded, with a smirk on her face. She'd noticed their connection too. "Why don't we go work on our routine out in the yard. Rachel and I are having dinner at her dads' tonight and don't really have much time."

Santana didn't think anything of what Quinn had said. It wasn't the first time they'd mentioned having dinner together. So, it didn't sound that out of the ordinary to her that her friends were having dinner that night.

"Could you drop me off at my house when you guys leave?"

Santana jumped in, "I could take you home. I did tell you I'd show you our Regionals routine."

Quinn smirked at Rachel, it worked perfectly. She knew her best friend and how she couldn't help herself sometimes around a beautiful girl. She led the brunette out of the bedroom first, leaving Dani and Santana alone for a moment.

"I mean… if that's alright with you." Santana suddenly covered up her eagerness.

"Yea, that's fine with me… I do need to call my mom once Quinn and Rachel leave… I don't have a cell phone and I called her from Quinn's phone. So she's got that on her caller ID." She blushed again once she realized she'd been rambling too much. But, was able to relax when Santana started laughing.

The brunette climbed out of her bed and led Dani out of her bedroom. "No problem. I don't have a phone right now, but you can use the house phone." By the time they got out to the backyard, Quinn and Rachel were seated on the tile patio stretching out. "So, tell us, Dani. Can you dance?"

"I… haven't done it a whole lot… so, I don't think so." She joined Rachel on the ground and mirrored her stretching habit.

"And yet, you're as flexible as Britt." Santana watched as Dani had her legs spread and leaned as far forward as she could. "Show us what you got."

Dani quickly shook her head. "I… I can't."

Rachel leaned over to nudge her, "come on, you're with friends."

"Besides, nobody can be as bad a dancer as Finn." Quinn glared at Santana when she had her phone snatched out of her hands. "Really?"

Santana shrugged, "mine's busted, remember? We need to listen to our songs." She helped herself to unlocking her friend's phone and going into her playlist to find the songs. "Hopefully you'll know the songs, Dani."

The blond leaned back on her hands to watch the three of them move into the grass to give them more room. As soon as the beat of the song came from Quinn's phone, Dani smiled. She instantly recognized it. She watched as the three fell into perfect rhythm with one another. She shifted some when Santana opened her mouth to sing. It was instantly known that the girl could pull of Amy Winehouse.

When the finished, Dani started clapping. Rachel grabbed her hand to force her to stand up. "It's not that hard. This is Santana's song for Regionals, obviously." She pulled Dani up beside her and started going through each of the steps with her.

Santana and Quinn were standing in front of Dani, showing her the same thing. "See, you can dance." Santana took note of the way Dani had confident steps with the routine.

Just as Santana spoke, Dani lost her footing and landed on the grass. She reclined back as she fell and just cracked up laughing. The other girls start snickering some as well. "Maybe you spoke too soon."

Quinn offered her hand to the girl on the ground to help her up. "Rachel and I have got to get going. Don't worry, Dani. Santana's a good teacher." She glanced at her friend before winking down at Dani. "Come on, Rachel." Quinn picked up her phone and shut off the music. "See you guys tomorrow."

Dani waved to them as they left before turning nervously to Santana. She hadn't spent more than about five minutes alone with the girl and felt a little uneasy with being near her. Not that she felt threatened by her fellow Latina, but it was the attraction she felt. "So… are we trying this again."

Santana went back into the house real quick to get her iPod from the office. When she came back onto the patio, she saw Dani humming softly and doing what appeared to be some ballet. "Okay, so now you're lying to me?"

The blond jumped and spun around to look at Santana, "I… I just… I don't dance in front of others…"

"It's fine, I understand being shy around new people." Santana scrolled through her iPod. "So, you can sing… play guitar, pick people's bedroom door locks, and apparently dance. Tell me, what can't you do?"

Dani stepped closer to Santana to try to peak into her iPod to see what she had. "I can't draw a straight line with a ruler," she said as she shrugged.

"Alright, something tells me that's a lie too." Santana's breath caught in her throat when she looked at Dani and realized just how close the other girl was. Usually people that were that close to her got a snarky comment. But, not Dani. Sometime inside of her screamed to just pull the girl closer, but she refused.

"What 'bout this?" Dani shivered when she realized she was close enough to catch a whiff of Santana's perfume. Shaking away her nerves, she stabbed at the screen to play a song.

"Oh, hell no. What do you know about this?" Santana placed the iPod on the table as the beginning chords started playing. She watched as Dani's hips started to move to the music.

" _Kelly, can you handle this?"_ Dani playfully pushed Santana, a smile plastered on her face.

" _Michelle, can you handle this?_ " Santana shot right back at her, a smirk covering her own face.

They looked at each other for a moment, a quick and silent conversation happening , then the both sang, " _Beyonce, can you handle this?_ _I don't think they can handle thi_ s."

Dani quickly fell into the rhythm of the song, rolling her hips in time with the music as she sang. _"Better move, 'cause we've arrived. Lookin' sexy, lookin' fly. Baddest chick, chick inside. DJ, jam tonight. Spotted me, a tender thang. There you are, come on baby. Don't you wanna dance with me?. Can you handle, handle me?"_

Santana rolled her eyes and waved her hand at Dani before starting to sing Beyoncé's part of the song. _"You gotta do much better. If you're gonna dance with me tonight. You gotta work your jelly. If you're gonna dance with me tonight. Read my lips carefully, if you like what you see. Move, groove, prove you can hang with me. By the looks I got you shook up and scared of me. Buckle your seatbelt, it's time for takeoff."_

With a huge smile on Dani's face she fell right into pattern beside Santana. She couldn't remember the last time she let go and had so much fun. Both girls stayed in perfect time together as they recreated the dance moves from the original music video. When they came to the end of the chorus, Dani looked at Santana again, with a smirk, _"baby can you handle this?"_

Even though it was just the lyrics to the song, Santana still blushed hearing the word 'baby' come out of Dani's mouth. _"Baby can you handle this?"_

Dani flipped her hair back as she continued singing into the second part of the song. _"I don't think you can handle this. I'm about to break you off. H-town goin' hard, read my hips. Slap my thighs,_ " her eyes locked with Santana's as she brought her hand down against the top of her own thigh, near her ass, " _swing my hair. Squint my eyes. Lookin' hot, smellin' good. Groovin' like I'm from the hood. Over my shoulder I blow you a kiss. Can you handle, handle this?"_

The girls fell into a perfect harmony with one another as they finished off the song – dancing near each other as they did so. " _Move your body up and down. Make your booty touch the ground. I can't help but wonder why. My vibe's too vibealacious for you babe."_

They stopped to face each other for the last bit, " _I shake my jelly at every chance. When I whip with my hips you slip into a trance. I'm hoping you can handle all this jelly that I have. Now let's cut a rug while we scat some jazz."_

As the iPod continued playing the chorus again, both girls doubled over in laughter. "I… I can't believe you know Destiny's Child." Santana was quite impressed with the girl.

"I haven't let go like that with someone for a long time." She sat down at the table and smiled at the brunette. She hadn't been around someone that made her feel so relaxed in ages. It was nice.

* * *

"Which one is it?" Santana leaned to look out the windshield at a different angle.

Dani pointed to the building back in the corner of the court, "that's where I get off." She instantly blushed at her words, especially when she heard Santana snicker beside her.

"Wanky." Her own smile grew larger when she saw the blush slowly creeping its way down Dani's neck. "That's where you get off, huh?"

"That is _not_ what I meant, Santana!" She buried her face in her hands in a failed attempt to hide her embarrassment as Santana only laughed harder at her.

"Sure, it wasn't." Santana pulled up in front of the apartment building and threw the car into park.

Dani finally mustered the courage to pull her hands away from her own face to look at Santana. "I had a lot of fun today. Thank you for showing me the routine."

"Didn't take you that long to learn it, I told you, you could dance."

"So… um… I guess I'll see you when you come back to school?" Dani watched as Santana smiled at her. Her heart fluttered some and she told herself she had to get out of the car now, before she never did. "Have a good night, Santana." She opened up the door and with one more glance at the driver, she grabbed her backpack and climbed out of the car.

"Good night, Dani." Santana stayed exactly where she was until she watched the girl get safely into the building. Now that she knew the girl lived on _that_ side of town, she vowed to give her a ride home every day, just to keep her safe. As Santana started the engine, she looked up at the building once more before turning around in the court and heading back out of the development.

* * *

 _Drop a review? There's got to be a few of you Dantana shippers left out there 3_


	6. Chapter 6

_Thank you guys so much for the reviews you've been sending in. It lifts my spirits so much to see them show up. Keep them coming? 3_

* * *

 ** _Beautiful  
Chapter 6_**

'You can do this, Santana.' She took a deep breath as she shut off the engine of her car and climbed out. A small smile crept to her lips when she spotted Quinn get out of her own vehicle and walk toward her. "Waiting on me, Fabray?"

"Actually, I was." She matched pace with her best friend as they entered the building. She could instantly feel everybody's eyes on Santana, and by relation, her. Word spread like wildfire around that school. By the end of the second day of Santana's suspension, everybody knew what had happened. They knew that she punched Karofsky, then also got him expelled for what he'd done to her.

"Stupid dyke." Azimio yelled out before throwing a slushy right into Santana's face. Before he could start laughing, though, Quinn had him pinned against the lockers. "What, you want one too? I can arrange that."

"You better stay away from Santana."

"Why? You gonna hit me like she hit Dave?"

"Someone needed to knock some sense into him." Santana spoke as she plucked the ice chunks off of her shirt. She could feel her walls instantly rebuilding. And it had only taken about five minutes for it to happen too.

Dani made her way closer to Santana and without a thought, started helping her pick the purple ice chunks off of her friend's shoulders. "You okay?"

The brunette forced on a smile for the shorter girl, "yea, I need to go get cleaned up." She looked at Dani once more before heading to the nearest bathroom. At least she'd remembered to bring a spare set of clothing with her that day. "Out, now!" She ordered the freshmen that were in the bathroom once the entered. Once they were gone, she allowed the first sting of tears to win her over. She just knew it was going to happen – that somebody would say or do something. But, she didn't expect it to be within the first few minutes of even walking into the building.

Santana placed her backpack on one of the sinks and opened it up to retrieve her shampoo, then then turned on the sink and pulled her hair out of its high pony. She bent at the waist to get her head into the sink to rinse it out. Her eyes focused mostly on the purple tint that the water had become. Once it ran clear, she turned off the water and started to squeeze out her hair. She was so lost in her own thoughts and trying to fight off her tears, that she didn't notice the bathroom door open and a figure approaching her.

"Santana…" Dani started off softly as she walked up beside Santana. She looked in the mirror and saw the wetness around the brunette's eyes. "Do you need some help?"

"No, I'm okay." Santana turned her head away so Dani wouldn't see that she had been crying. But it was already too late.

She reached for some paper towels and got them wet before gently touching Santana's arm with them, "too bad."

"Dani, please…" Santana lifted her hand to gently grab Dani's. When she felt how soft the skin of Dani's hand was, she found herself hesitating to continue to speak. "I'm… I'm okay, I promise."

Their touch lingered for a few more moments. The only cause for them to pull apart, was the sound of the bathroom door opening, and two other Cheerios entering the bathroom. "Well, look who it is. You get a new girlfriend, Santana?"

"We're just friends." Dani folded her arms over her chest as she looked at the younger girls.

"You think you scare me short stack?"

The moment she approached Dani, Santana stepped in between them, "keep it up, Bree. And I'll make sure Quinn has you doing suicides for the next three weeks."

The girl eyed the brunette for a moment before rolling her eyes. "Don't worry, Santana. You'll be taken care of soon enough." She winked at the girl before walking out of the bathroom, the other Cheerio was right beside her.

Santana's eyes slammed shut to ward off the tears that threatened them again. When Dani's hand came in contact with her shoulder, she jumped. "Don't… please don't. Maybe you shouldn't hang around me so much… they'll start going after you, too."

"I don't care."

"You say that now, but it gets worse… it gets so much worse." Santana shoved her belongings back into her bag and flung the bathroom door open, leaving Dani alone in the bathroom.

Dani was powerless to do anything. No matter how much she wanted to help Santana, she wasn't ready to divulge her own secret just yet. With a sigh, she grabbed her own bag and made her way toward her first class of the day.

* * *

She couldn't believe she was about to do what she was going to do. After taking a deep breath, she made her way down the hallway to where she saw the blond standing at her locker. "Hey, you."

Dani jumped before her head spun around, "thought you weren't talking to me."

Santana sighed, "I need to apologize for that. I really do."

"Apology excepted. Now do you plan on telling me what that was about earlier?" Dani zipped her up backpack and slung it over her shoulder before closing her locker.

Santana sighed softly. "Are you busy tonight?"

Dani's mind instantly wandered. Was Santana asking her out on a date? She could feel her heart thumping in her chest. "N-no… I'm not doing anything."

"Good… because I want to get some Chinese food… and I also wanna give you the low-down on how things work here in backwaters Lima, Ohio." Santana turned to start walking toward the front door, Dani at her side.

"That works for me. I love Chinese food."

"Aw, look at the little lovebirds." The pair froze and turned around to see Azimio standing there, a smirk on his face. "Never thought that the new girl would be a carpet muncher too."

Santana could feel her first clenching. She didn't want to lose her temper again, causing another suspension, but she also didn't want Dani to be dragged into her personal problems.

"What's your problem, buddy? Is your life seriously that miserable that you have to bring others down to make yourself happy?"

"Oh, you've got quite a mouth on you. Bet Santana likes it more on her." He laughed at his own wording.

All Dani could do was roll her eyes. "Come on, Santana." Just as she turned around, she was met with a frozen stinging sensation all over her face. "Shit…" she wiped the ice from her eyes before forcing them open, "that was definitely colder than I thought it would be." She looked down at her arms, noticing they were red from the slushy, she then licked her lips and shrugged. "Cherry, my favorite."

Santana watched in shock as Dani didn't even seem to react to the slushy that was now covering her clothing. All she could do was shake her head at the footballers before following Dani to the closest bathroom. By the time she got in there, she could see Dani with her head in the sink, rinsing out the red syrup. "Why'd you do that?"

She shrugged, "don't like seeing people get picked on." She glanced to her side to see a genuine smile come to Santana's face. "Guess we'll have to stop by my place first so I can shower and change." She stood upright to squeeze most of the water out of her hair.

Santana grabbed a few paper towels and got them wet in the sink before stepping into Dani's personal space. "At least get the syrup off of your arms and face. Red stains really badly."

The blond just watched as Santana worked on her arms, slowly scrubbing away the red syrup. She closed her eyes when she saw a hand coming up toward her face. She swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat from having Santana touch her. Dani was loving all of the time she'd been spending with the other girl. But was still terrified. Santana was going through the exact same thing she had, but she didn't know if she could fully trust her, Quinn, or Rachel.

"Good to go," Santana's voice was soft as she slowly pulled away from Dani to throw away the paper towels. "Do you have anything to change into? Just so you don't get slushy everywhere in my car." Dani laughed, but then shook her head. "Okay," Santana unzipped her back and pulled out a long sleeve shirt and a pair of sweat pants. "You can borrow these 'til we get to your house."

Dani gently took the clothing, blushing as their fingertips brushed against one another. "Thank you, Santana." She placed her bag onto the floor and went into one of the stalls to get changed out of her soaked clothing.

* * *

"Make yourself at home." Dani led the way into the apartment she shared with her mother. "I… I know it's nothing like you're used to…" She walked down the hallway and into her bedroom to put her bag in there and get some clothes out.

"It's quaint. Reminds me of the apartment my abuela lives in." Santana leaned against the doorframe as she watched Dani pulling some clothing out of an old dresser. She took in the girl's bedroom. Basic white walls, with various posters of different rock bands, some of which she'd never heard of. There were some hats lining the top of her TV stand. Santana couldn't help herself when she spotted a solid black schoolboy hat. She made her way across the room and pulled it off of the top of the stand to put it on her head. Before Dani had even noticed, she looked around really quickly for a mirror to examine herself.

Dani giggled when she turned around to see the other girl with one of her hats on. "Nah…" She walked to her stand and picked up a fedora that was white with black pin stripes on it. She approached Santana, reached up and pulled the black hat off of her, then replaced it with the white one. "Much better."

Santana turned her head to the side to look at her reflection, "you think?" She glanced at the blond behind her who nodded. "Okay, if you say so." She turned to look at Dani before pulling her new phone out of her pocket to take a picture. She eyed Dani for a moment before reaching out for her. Santana took the black hat out of her hands and placed it on her head before turning her camera on. She slid her right arm around Dani's shoulder as she smiled at the camera, she was happy to see Dani smiling in the front facing camera as well.

"I need to go shower, Santana. We can take pictures later." She reluctantly pulled away from the brunette and gathered the clothing she'd thrown onto her bed. After placing her hat back up on the shelf, she walked by Santana and into the bathroom that was across the hall from her room.

Santana watched her go, once the bathroom door was closed, she continued trying on Dani's hats. Most of which she thought she looked good in. Especially a red and black plaid bucket hat. Once she put it on and looked at herself in the mirror, she decided that it was the best. She snapped a few pictures of herself, then sat on the edge of Dani's bed to send one of them to Quinn with a message that said 'I'm sexy.'

As she stood up to look at some other things that were on the shelves by the girl's TV, her phone vibrated in her hand with a new text.

 _Quinn: Where are you at? I know you don't own any hats_

 _Santana: Dani's room. Trying on her hats. She has a bunch of them_

The brunette leaned forward to pick up a picture of a younger Dani and a woman that looked just like her. Santana assumed that it was the girl's mother in the picture. The two looked so happy together and it made Santana smile. She looked at a few trinkets that were near the picture, then finally found what appeared to be an extensive collection of bracelets. It was one of the things she'd noticed the first time she saw Dani, were the somewhat thick leather bracelets that she wore over both of her wrists. She couldn't help herself as she picked up one and fastened it around her own wrist. Once she actually looked at it, she shook her head and took it back off. As soon as she placed it back on the shelf, her phone vibrated again.

 _Quinn: You're in Dani's room!?_

 _Santana: She's showering, then we're going to get food._

Santana went back to Dani's bed and made herself comfortable. The bucket hat was still on her head. Oddly enough, it went well with her Cheerios uniform, and she actually planned on wearing it for a little while. She brought up one of the pictures she snapped of herself with Dani. Something about the way they were together, felt right. But, there was one problem Santana faced. She didn't even know if Dani was gay.

"I see you really are making yourself at home." Dani giggled as she walked back into her room about fifteen minutes later. She continued towel drying her hair as she sat on the edge of her bed beside Santana.

"Even if you didn't tell me, I would have done it anyway." Santana looked away from her phone, with a smile on her face. "I plan on wearing this for a while," she motioned to the hat on her head.

"That's fine, it looks good on you." Dani could feel Santana's eyes on her as she tilted her head to the side to get to continue rubbing the towel through her hair.

Santana examined her closely, as her eyes moved over Dani's facial features and slowly down, she spotted the black ink on the inside of Dani's wrists. "What're those?"

"Hm?" Dani followed her friend's line of sight to her wrists and smiled sadly. "Tattoos."

"Okay, smart ass, I know they're tattoos." Santana sat up and leaned in to get a better look at them. "What do they say?"

Dani took a deep breath before showing Santana her wrists. She shivered when the brunette gently took hold of her hands to read the tattoos. "I got them over the summer…"

Santana could see some of the scars beneath the black ink, she allowed her thumbs to run over them gently before looking back up into Dani's eyes. "Did something happen?" She asked gently, not wanting to pry in case Dani didn't want to talk about it.

The blond shook her head. "That's a story I'm sure I'll share with you eventually."

"Hey, don't feel pressured," Santana pulled her hands away then stood up. "You ready to go get some food? Then we can come back here and I'll tell you how things work in this town."

Dani pulled on a pair of socks before grabbing her shoes to put on. "Yea, I'm ready."

* * *

"I believe this one's yours." Santana handed over a container of spicy beef before opening up her own container of shrimp chow mein.

"Thank you for dinner, Santana." She kept her eyes on the girl as she popped open the lid to her own food. She knew there was no way she'd be able to eat all of it. Dani already figured that whatever she didn't eat, her mom could finish off when she got home.

"You're welcome." Santana opened up one of the packages of utensils for herself, then handed Dani the other one. "So…" she started out slowly as she took a bite of her own food. "Around here… people like me aren't welcomed."

"I already gathered that." Dani mixed up her rice and beef before taking a bite.

"Aren't you an perceptive one." She laughed when Dani kicked her leg under the table. "What I'm getting at though… even people that are around me get drawn into my drama. Quinn gets just as much shit as I do."

"What about Rachel? Or that other girl, what's her name, Brittany?"

"Yea, it's Brittany. But, nobody bothers Brittany. She's a total sweetheart to everybody she ever meets. She's been my best friend since we were just kids. As far as Rachel," Santana paused to take a sip from her cup which had tea in it, "she has two dads. As in, gay dads. So, for as long as any of us can remember, they've all been harassed about it."

Dani's brows furrowed, she had heard Rachel talking about her dads before, but never actually pieced it together. "That's horrible. I never understood how people could be so hateful to others."

"They turned on me over the summer…" Santana's eyes became fixated on her food as she spoke softly, when Dani didn't respond, she took it as a cue to continue, "one of the football players, that one that slushied you earlier actually, saw me at Breadstix with a girl I knew. We were on a date… yes. Well, he didn't say anything to us until we left and he saw us kiss out by her car." She finally looked up to see Dani had forgone her food to give her, her undivided attention.

"Just because of one kiss?" Dani swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Yea. I never talked to that girl again, it was just a one date thing to see if we clicked, but we didn't. That night though, continues to torture me every day. Word spreads fast around this town. Azimio told the football players, and by the time the summer Cheerios camp started up, everybody knew."

Dani couldn't stop herself as she reached out to place her hand on top of Santana's, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I'm okay, because I'm used to it."

"You shouldn't have to be used to it though, Santana."

"That's another thing about this town, they forget things pretty quickly." She laughed humorlessly. "So, the drama with me being a lesbian, will pass." Santana didn't know what it was, but she felt so much better. She felt like she could share anything with Dani and she wouldn't be judged.

Dani absorbed Santana's words. Just as she opened her mouth to say something, she heard the front door unlock. "My mom's home, hold on a second." She placed her fork back into her container and got up. "Hi mom." Dani greeted her mom with a hug and a wide smile.

"Is that…" she sniffed the air as she kicked her shoes off, "Chinese food?" Dani blushed as she nodded, "Dani…" Her mother started to scold her, then she spotted movement in the kitchen.

"I didn't buy it, Santana did."

The woman tilted her head to look at her daughter, a slow smile came to her lips. She leaned closer to her daughter before speaking softly, "like, the Santana you were telling me about?" Dani blushed and nodded, "oh, I have to meet her."

"Mom!" She grumbled then followed quickly after her mother.

Santana looked up from her plate, a noodle hanging out of her mouth as the older woman entered the kitchen. She was quick to swallow her food before waving shyly. She'd never done good with meeting anybody's parents. "Hi there."

"Mom, this is Santana. Santana, this is my mom, Kristina." Dani motioned between the two of them before taking her seat at the end of the table again and digging into her food.

"It's nice to meet you, Dani's talked about you a lot." Kristina smirked at her daughter who blushed heavily. She watched as Santana turned her head in what appeared to be slow motion as her attention diverted over to the blond. "I'll leave you two to your dinner." Without another word, she retreated to her bedroom, but planned on listening to as much of their conversation as she could. Ever since the incident at Carmel, Kristina was leery of new people that her daughter met.

"So… you talk about me a lot?"

"Shut up, Santana." Dani pinched the bridge of her nose as she played around with the food in her container.

The brunette cracked up laughing, "no, I wanna know what you say about me."

"It's good stuff."

"Okay, good stuff about what?" Santana put her fork down to lean closer, she laughed as she pried Dani's hand away from her face. She held onto Dani's hand and tilted her head to look at her face. The blond was definitely adorable when she was blushing.

"Please, Santana." Dani was starting to lose her own battle with her smile when she lifted her head to look at the darker skinned girl. "Just pretend she didn't say that."

"Hm, can't do that." Santana glanced down at their hands for a moment before she allowed her fingertips to drag over the back of Dani's soft hand.

"My mom can be so embarrassing sometimes."

Santana lifted her gaze up to meet Dani's eyes, before she spoke, "all moms can be like that. You should see mine sometimes." Santana took a moment to search Dani's eyes as the blond smiled. She wasn't sure what overtook her, but before she realized it, she started getting closer to Dani.

Dani saw the movement and felt her heart begin to race. Santana was going to kiss her. She was going to kiss Santana. She swallowed the lump in her throat. But, before it happened, just as she started to feel Santana's breath against her lips, she pulled back and blurted out, "Santana, I… I can't, I'm sorry."

The darker girl quickly leaned back, her eyes wide. "Oh….OH… God, I'm so sorry… I just… I just thought…" Santana quickly stood up and turned to leave the kitchen, "I think I should go."

"Santana, wait…" Dani chased after her friend, she was cursing herself for saying what she had. But, fear overtook her. She reached out to grab the girl's hand to stop her. "Don't go, stay and finish dinner, please?"

"I can't, Dani… Shit, I'm so stupid." Santana looked everywhere except down at Dani.

"You're not stupid…" She tried to force herself tell Santana everything. To bare her heart to the taller girl, but she couldn't. Not yet. "You're not stupid." She bit her lip as she rested her hand against the darker girl's cheek. Her eyes searched Santana's for a brief moment. When she realized there was no hint of malice there, she closed the gap between them. She sighed happily when her lips came into contact with Santana's.

Santana placed her hands on Dani's hips and slowly returned the kiss. She was confused as to Dani's initial reaction, but at that moment, it didn't matter. All that mattered was the way their lips fit perfectly together. She exhaled through her nose before slowly pulling back as the lack of air started to become too much for her.

"I should be the one apologizing to you." Dani whispered, her eyes still closed from the kiss. The hand that she had placed on Santana's cheek, had moved onto her shoulder. She finally opened her eyes to meet Santana's. She then sighed and turned her head away. "I just… I got scared."

"About what?" One of Santana's hands came up to brush some of Dani's hair behind her ear.

"I'm… I'm going to need you to be really patient with me, Santana. Please… that's all I ask of you."

The darker girl nodded in understanding, "that's perfectly fine with me." She smiled down at the girl that was still in her arms. "So… I take it you want me to stay a little longer?"

"Please? Didn't I already tell you that?" Dani slowly backed away from the girl and went back into the kitchen to finish eating their dinner.

Santana couldn't wipe the smile off of her face as she followed the girl back into the kitchen.

* * *

 _Drop a review? I'll try to remember to post chapter 7 tomorrow afternoon sometime. I've got a lot to do for school, I have a week and a half left before finals so everything is piling up big time right now. I think next week alone I've got 5 assignments due. FUN! (not)_


	7. Chapter 7

**_I'm sorry for the delay. I almost forgot again to get it posted. I've got a lot of stuff to do for school right now. Just one more week and then finals then I'm off for the summer. Thank goodness. I'm ready to make use of my Six Flags pass again. lol_**

* * *

 ** _Beautiful  
Chapter 7_**

"You're home awfully late, mija." Maribel spoke from her place on the sofa as Santana walked through the front door. She dared to glance up at the clock to see it was already nearing 9PM. "Is everything okay? Did something happen at school again?"

Santana reeled in her smile, she didn't want to make things obvious with her mom as she kicked off her shoes and entered the living room. She was silent as she sat down beside her mom and instantly curled into her side. "Dani took a slushy for me."

"She what?" Maribel shifted to look down at the younger girl. "What happened?"

"It was after school. I went to her locker to talk to her, then Azimio stopped us…" she sighed, she never repeated any of the words that were ever said to her, they were words that she preferred to never say aloud. "He insulted us, and she stepped up and basically told him off." Santana chuckled at the memory of how Dani seemed so confident when standing up to a guy three times her size. "When we turned to leave, she had a slushy thrown in her face."

"Oh goodness… is she alright?" Maribel pulled her daughter closer to her as she listened.

"I don't know how she did it. Mami, she didn't react at all. Other than saying it was colder than she thought it would be, and that cherry was her favorite flavor." She stopped when her mom started laughing. "I know, right. I don't get how she stayed so calm over it."

"Okay, that still does not tell me why you are getting home so late."

Santana bit her lip. She knew she had to be careful with her words as she continued telling her mom everything, "I gave her a ride home, and she invited me to stay for dinner. Then we just started talking." It wasn't a complete lie, she just stretched the truth… a lot.

"Talking huh? Is that what they're calling it now?"

"Mami! Ugh, you're ridiculous!" Santana laughed. "All we did was talk."

"Did you even find out if this girl is gay yet, Santana?"

The teen forced out a sigh as she lied, "no, not yet. Maybe she's just not open about it."

"Or maybe she's just not gay."

Santana rolled her eyes, thankful her mother couldn't see her. "I know, mami. I'm being careful with her. I don't want to get hurt again."

Maribel sighed, "I worry about you, Santana. I know how you get with people you like. You wear your heart on your sleeve."

The teen snuggled in further to her mother, she missed nights where she could just curl up in the living room with her mom and watch television with her. "Trust me, mami. I'm being careful."

"Alright… But, you know I'll be here to pick up the pieces if this doesn't work out with her."

"Thanks." But, something told Santana, that everything was going to work out with the new girl in town.

* * *

Dani couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. Santana attempted to kiss her. Sure, she panicked at first, but then made it right when Santana tried to leave. There was something about the kiss she'd shared with Santana that was different from anything of the others she'd had before. She hummed to herself as she started cleaning up the kitchen. Santana had finished almost all of her food. Dani shook her head and briefly wondered where the toned girl put all the food.

"Is it safe to come out?" Kristina called from her bedroom, but didn't wait for an answer before joining her daughter in the kitchen. "She seems nice."

"She is nice, mom." Dani put the lid back on her container of Chinese food before showing it to her mom, "you can have the rest of this. It's spicy beef."

"Yum, my favorite." She made her way to the sink to grab a washcloth to help the teen clean up. "So… tell me more about her? Obviously you two are hitting it off."

Dani blushed. "We are…"

"So… what happened?"

"We talked a lot." She left it at that, hoping her mom would drop it.

Kristina watched her daughter, "look, Dani… I just worry okay?

"I know, mom. Santana's dealing with what I dealt with at Carmel." She finally looked her mother in the eye. Dani could see the way her mom's expression softened. "So we're taking everything slow right now. We're still getting to know one another. But… I… I feel so much closer to her already than I ever felt to… her." Kristina cringed at the mention of the other girl. Even if it wasn't by name, she knew exactly who Dani was talking about. "Mom, that's why we're taking things slow. Don't worry, please. I'm more cautious now than I was then."

"Alright… but know that even if you say not to worry, I'm going to do it anyway."

Dani rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway. "I have some homework to do." She walked down the hallway and went into her bedroom before her mom could ask her anymore questions. Once she was safely in her room, she hit the button on her computer's tower to flip it on, then pulled the chair back. Before she made herself comfortable, she grabbed her backpack that was by her door to retrieve her school books. She sat at the small desk and looked at her computer monitor to wait for it to finish loading.

By the time she spread out her books on the desk, she was finally looking at her desktop. She brought up her internet explorer and signed into their internet. While it was connecting, she opened up her notebook to get out the worksheet she had for her history class.

As her computer finished signing in, she saw a popup in the bottom corner for a new message on Skype from someone named 'IAmSnix.' Her brow furrowed as she brought up the conversation. She didn't expect it to be anything good. The last time she received a message on Skype it turned out to be someone from her old school harassing her.

Her hand shook as she moved her mouse to the notification and double clicked on it.

 _IAmSnix: Rockerchick720 seems like a fitting name for you_

Her eyes narrowed as she read the message. Who the hell was it from?

 _Rockerchick720: I'm sorry, who is this?_

The response was almost instant.

 _IAmSnix: Let me give you a hint. I tried on your hats earlier today lol_

 _RockerChick720: Santana? How on earth did you find me?_

Dani couldn't wipe the smile off of her face as she accepted the friend request. The moment she did, a picture of Santana popped up at the top of their conversation. It was one of the picture's she'd taken earlier that day of herself in the plaid bucket hat. Dani had to admit, she looked really cute with one of her hats on.

 _Santana: I got bored and started looking for people. Found you on Facebook and you have your Skype listed on there lol_

Usually Dani would have been a little frightened by the length that Santana had gone to. If it was anybody else, she would have been frightened. But, with it being Santana, it only brought a smile to her face.

 _Dani: Should I be scared that you looked me up?_

While she saw the pencil icon appear at the bottom of the conversation, she went over to her Facebook page. She smiled when she saw three new friend requests. It had been a few days since she had been on the computer, so she could only imagine how long they'd actually been there. When she brought up the requests, she saw there were ones from Rachel, Quinn, and the most recent one, Santana. Without a second thought she accepted all three of them. After clicking on Santana's name to bring up her page, she went back to her conversation to see a new message.

 _Santana: Nah, it's a thing I do with people… now that you accepted me I can stalk more on your page ;)_

 _Dani: It's a thing I do too. Don't worry_

Dani clicked out of their conversation to bring up Facebook again. She couldn't help herself as she brought up Santana's pictures to scroll through them. The most recent pictures were of the darker girl trying on all of Dani's hats. She smiled brightly at the faces that Santana was making into her mirror as the pictures were taken. She bit her lip nervously when she spotted one of the few Santana had taken with her. What would people think when they saw it?

After letting out a shaky breath, she decided to let it go. It was just a picture of two friends having fun. Nobody could see the way Santana's arm was around her shoulder, or the way her own arms ended up around Santana's waist. She immediately clicked the like button on the picture of the two of them together. As she actually took her time to look at it, it seemed so natural. The way her body fit perfectly into Santana's, the way she felt so relaxed around her, even from day one. It just felt right.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she saw the icon at the bottom of her screen flashing at her.

 _Santana: Mom started hounding me as soon as I got home_

 _Dani: mine started the minute you left… did you tell yours anything?_

They hadn't actually talked about it before Santana left her apartment. She didn't know how open Santana wanted to be about anything they were trying to figure out with one another.

 _Santana: Nothing, just that we talked and had dinner. You?_

 _Dani: same… Hey San?_

 _Santana: Yea_

 _Dani: Thank you… I just need some time right now_

 _Santana: I understand, don't worry. I wanna take this slow too_

Dani's heart melted as she read, and reread the message several times. Santana wanted to go slow, just like she did. She took a moment to actually pull her worksheet in front of her. There was homework to be done, even while talking to Santana.

 _Dani: Can we keep this to ourselves for a little while?_

 _Santana: I was gonna ask the same thing actually_

Dani looked down at her homework after seeing Santana's message to her. She filled out a of the answers from memory before having to resort to her book for some more. She reached out above her homework to type out another message.

 _Dani: So tell me what the IAmSnix thing is_

She watched as the pencil icon appeared at the bottom of the screen yet again. While waiting for a response, she turned back to her homework. The sooner she finished, it the sooner she could do other things, like actually go and look at her new friends' things on Facebook.

 _Santana: I hope you never have to see Snix… everybody has that side of them that they aren't proud of and Snix is mine. I named it about two years ago when I had completely lost control. I've gotten better with it though_

 _Dani: So, it's like an angry thing?_

 _Santana: Something like that._

The blonde looked at her screen for a moment. Santana's problems obviously ran much deeper than she was letting on. But, to Dani, it was alright. She knew it was something they could work through together. Because, she was no saint either. She had her own skeletons in the closet that she was still battling. Another message from Santana popped up.

 _Santana: How about I take you out on Saturday?_

 _Dani: I… I don't know, where to?_

 _Santana: Nothing like the movies or anything, like the park or something. There's a quiet park close to my house we could go to. Just spend the day together._

Dani leaned back on her chair. She was worried, yes, but also felt she could trust Santana. If Santana said it was quiet, then it was quiet. She knew that the darker girl was just as scared of the public eye as she was. Even though, to most people, they would just appear as two friends hanging out. But, with Lima being such a small town, they were bound to run into someone they knew.

 _Dani: I think that would be okay. Are you sure it's quiet though?_

 _Santana: positive_

 _Dani: mom works overnight Friday so I'd be able to use her car to meet you there_

 _Santana: that works_

The blonde let out a sigh as she looked down at her homework which, for the most part, was left untouched.

 _Dani: I need to finish my homework Santana. Can I talk to you tomorrow at school?_

 _Santana: yea of course. Have a good night Dani_

 _Dani: you too_

She forced herself to sign out of Skype so she could finish her homework. She wanted nothing more than to stay focused on talking to Santana, but her school work came first. Her grades had started to slip at her last school because she couldn't focus. She refused to let that happen again. Her mom would let her let that happen again. Her mind constantly wandered off to her fellow Latina as she finished off her history worksheet.

Her eyes came up to look at the computer screen again. After she had closed Skype, it revealed the last picture she'd been looking at on Santana's page. The picture of them together. Without a second thought, she right clicked on the picture to save it onto her own computer.

After saving the photo, she turned off her monitor and got up to flip on her radio. She then laid down on her bed to go through her math homework. Saturday couldn't come soon enough for her to be able to spend more time alone with Santana.

* * *

 _ **Drop a review if you feel inclined to do so. Let me know what you're thinking.**_


	8. Chapter 8

**_Beautiful  
Chapter 8_**

"Mom _just_ walked through the door. I'm about to leave now, Santana. I'm so sorry I'm running late."

"See, I told you I could of picked you up." Santana chuckled. She wasn't upset over the fact that the girl was late. It wasn't Dani's fault. She couldn't help it that she had no way to get to the park.

"I know, I know. I'll be there in like… twenty minutes at the most, promise."

"Alright, take your time, it's nice out today." Santana leaned back on the chair swing she had taken over and allowed the sun to warm her face.

"Okay, bye." Dani hung up the phone.

Santana ended her side of the call as well before looking at her screen. She'd changed Dani's contact picture to the one she took with her a few days ago in her bedroom. The Latina stretched out, one leg on the swing while she used the other to slowly swing back and forth. While she was waiting, she decided to go and scroll through her Facebook.

"What are you doing here?"

That voice, she knew exactly who it belonged to. "I'm allowed to relax on a nice day, ya know." She turned to look at him through her sunglasses.

"Guess daddy got you a new phone." He reached for the device, but she was quicker and pulled it back.

"What do you want Karofsky?"

"You know what you did to me, Santana? You ruined my fucking life."

She stopped swinging and continued to watch him. Deep down she was kind of frightened. From what she had noticed, it was just the two of them. Nobody else was within her immediate sight. "I didn't do anything, you did it to yourself." It was true. She was protecting herself from him. He had brought everything onto himself.

"If you had kept your fucking mouth shut." He reached out to grab her but she pushed his hand away. "You stupid whore. One day… I swear to you, Santana… one day you're gonna pay for this." He wrapped his hand around her throat and squeezed to make sure she understood his warning. "I can't get a football scholarship anymore because of you. I hope you're fucking happy!" He spit in her face before pushing her back.

Santana instantly started coughing. With shaking hands, she lifted up to touch her neck as she struggled to regain her breath as well as her nerves. Tears started to threaten her eyes as she got up and hurried down the pathway to the small parking lot that was at the edge of the park. She couldn't stay. Hopefully Dani would understand. She'd have to call her later to tell her what happened.

Once she was safely inside her vehicle, her resolve crumbled. At least she lived close to the park and wouldn't have to drive very far with shaking hands and tears in her eyes.

* * *

It was moments like that, that she wished her family had enough money for her to be able to have a phone. She walked around the small park three times looking for Santana. The girl was nowhere to be found. When she didn't see Santana's car in the parking lot, she'd just assumed that the girl walked over. For late October, the weather was absolutely gorgeous out, so she wouldn't be able to blame her.

But after spending almost twenty minutes looking for her friend, she decided that Santana had left. But why? She seemed okay with the fact that Dani was going to be late. As she made her way back to her mom's car, she began to worry. Had something happened to her? Was she okay?

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she drove over to where Santana's house was. Santana's car was the only on in the driveway. It looked like both of her parents were gone for the day. After shutting off the engine, she got out and made her way to the front door. She knocked on it and waited. When nobody responded she tried the doorknob. The moment it opened, she felt her heart raise into her throat.

"Santana?" She called out as she closed the door behind her. There was no response. She started to check through the lower level, to no avail. "Santana?" She called out again as she started climbing the steps. As soon as she reached the top of the steps, she started to hear sobbing from the bathroom.

Bracing herself for the worst, she gently pushed the door open. Santana was sitting cross-legged on the floor near the tub's edge. Her back was pressed against the wall, her head was bowed as she sobbed. Her hair had fallen to cover her face as she looked down at her own lap. Dani spotted what appeared to be a blood stain on Santana's right wrist, and in her left hand, she spotted the cause of it. A shiny new razor blade.

 _'Shit… no.'_ She took a deep breath to keep herself calm. She remembered how people reacted with her and how much it caused her to shut down. "Hey, San." She spoke softly as she sat down, facing her. She slowly reached out to pull the blade out of Santana's hand and tossed it into the trash can that was behind her. She then unrolled a wad of toilet paper and pressed it gently to the cuts on Santana's tanned skin. "Remember when you asked me about my tattoos?"

Santana slowly looked up from where she'd been watching Dani's hands on her wrist. She couldn't find her words, so all she could do was nod. Her eyes went back to watching as paler hands worked on stopping the bleeding on her wrist.

"I got them about two months ago, right before school started. Mom signed for them." She threw away the toilet paper before turning Santana's hand some more to examine the two fairly deep gashes. "The end of last school year, rumors started to spread that I was gay. People started avoiding me, they claimed that they could catch the 'gay gene,' as if that were possible." She smiled softly when Santana let out a very small, very short laugh. "But, it got worse. I was shoved into lockers at school, called every name you could ever imagine…" she turned her own wrists up to show the tattoos, as well as her own scars. "This became my only outlet."

"Wh-what happened?"

Dani lifted her gaze when she pressed some more toilet paper to Santana's wrist and held it there. Her eyes locked with Santana's as she continued speaking, "I was walking home one night from my job and they cornered me." She paused to remember what had happened to her. "It was about a month before school started… they beat me up some… then locked me in a dumpster about a block from where I was living at the time. Nobody helped me when I started screaming…" she looked down at her own tattoos to the strength to continue her story. "When I didn't come home, mom came out looking for me. She knew the path I took to walk home… I'd been locked in that dumpster for over an hour. That was when mom found out what was actually going on. We couldn't afford any type of therapy for me to get better… but every day she always told me to 'stay strong.' So, when the names started flying again and I felt like reaching for that blade, I would remind myself of what she told me. It eventually led to me asking for her to sign for these tattoos. That way I'd have that constant reminder, even when my mom wasn't near." She looked back up into Santana's eyes, "so, you wanna talk any?"

Santana just shook her head, but allowed herself to break down again. Her and Dani were a lot more alike than she originally thought. When she felt Dani's arms slowly wrap around her, she sobbed onto the shorter girl's shoulder. There was so much comfort in the blonde's arms that she never felt from Quinn, Brittany, or her mom. It was different. It relaxed her quickly.

Once Santana's sobs finally stopped, Dani spoke again, "let's get this cleaned up okay?" She looked down at her friend's wrist before standing and helping her to stand up. Without another word, she turned on the sink water and gently placed Santana's wrist under it. The remaining blood was washed away, leaving two angry red lines behind. She opened up the medicine cabinet, sighing thankfully when she spotted a small first aid kit. She opened it up and found an antiseptic wipe and some bandages. Santana still hadn't said anything, and it was frightening. "Let me see…" She pulled the darker girl's arm out from under the water and gently patted it dry with a hand towel. She continued her gentle touches as she opened the wipe and ran it over the sounds. The girl hissed and attempted to pull her hand away. "I know it burns… but you don't want it to get infected."

Santana watched her toss the used wipe into the trash can. She then opened up a gauze pad and pressed it onto her skin before wrapping it with some medical tape. "Thank you," her voice was so soft that Dani had to strain to hear it.

"You're welcome." Dani slowly wrapped her arms around Santana's neck to hold her close. "Don't be afraid to talk to me, okay? I know we don't know each other that well yet, but I want to get to know you."

The brunette nodded, relaxing when she felt Dani's body pressed tightly to her own. "Do you… um, wanna stay and watch a movie or something? I don't want to go back out today."

"I've always been one to stay in anyway." Dani allowed her fingers to trace along Santana's shoulders before leaning up to press a soft kiss to her cheek. "Here…" she pulled off one of the bracelets she was wearing and lifted Santana's hand to place it over top of the bandage.

"What's this for?"

"It'll help to hide it… until it's finished healing at least."

It suddenly made sense to Santana as to why Dani always had bracelets on. It wasn't so much to cover the tattoos, no. It was to cover the scars. Obviously she'd been wearing them long before she got the tattoos as well. Santana straightened out the leather band on her wrist and smiled down at it. "Don't think I can pull this off."

Dani smiled up at her before grabbing her other hand and walking out of the bathroom. "Well, do you have any bracelets that you could use?" She walked down the hallway and into Santana's bedroom. She'd only been in it once before and didn't have much of a chance to look at anything.

"Plan on going through my stuff?" Santana smiled sadly at her as she watched her go right to one of the jewelry boxes that sat on top of her dresser.

"It's a thing I do." She pulled out a few thin bracelets before shaking her head. "It's up to you though, Santana…" she turned to the girl and watched as she approached her. "If you go without it, people may see it and ask questions."

Santana didn't say anything as she wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and buried her face into her hair. Karofsky's words still played on her mind as she felt herself beginning to tremble again. Santana had never been so afraid before. The way Karofsky grabbed her neck, told her that he was serious. She wished nothing had happened to cause Quinn and Rachel to find out… things probably wouldn't have escalated as far as they had. Or so she thought.

"What're you thinking about?"

"He threatened me," Santana refused to let Dani pull away. She knew the girl wanted to look at her as she spoke, but if she saw Dani watching her, she felt like she would clam up again.

Dani sensed Santana's discomfort, so instead of trying to pull away, she moved her hands further onto Santana's back and rubbed her shoulder blades slowly, "who threatened you?"

"Karofsky… the guy that got expelled because of me." She swallowed the lump in her throat to keep from crying again. "He saw me sitting there waiting on you and confronted me… He grabbed my throat, Dani." She couldn't control her body shaking anymore when she finally said those words.

Dani was finally able to pull away, when she did she brought her hands up to grasp the sides of Santana's face. "I just want to see him get through me first."

Santana actually laughed. A real laugh that she wasn't sure she'd be able to have for a while. "You gonna be my bodyguard?"

Dani leaned back to appreciate as much of Santana's body as she could see. "I'll always guard that body." Her eyes widened at her own words and a heavy blush covered her cheeks. "Oh god… I didn't mean it like that." She dared to look into Santana's eyes to see nothing but amusement.

"You put your foot in your mouth a lot don't you?" Santana smiled widely at her, being around Dani helped her to completely relax. Even with everything on her mind each day, Dani helped her forget them all and be herself again.

The blond shrugged, still blushing. "I try to stop myself from talking sometimes, and I just can't seem to do it."

Santana shook her head, still laughing at the girl. "Tell me something," she started off as she moved to her bed to lay down and relax.

"Sure, what is it?" Dani made her way to the entertainment stand to look at Santana's DVDs.

"How did you realize you were gay?"

The blonde glanced at Santana before looking back at the movies. "I was 14 and hanging out with my best friend at the time. She was talking about how she kissed this boy in our class and how nice it was to kiss someone." Dani blushed at the memory. It was something out of a movie really, "I asked her what it was like, and she showed me." She glanced back at Santana to see her smiling. "Then eventually, I had a chance to kiss a boy, it was like a month or two after I kissed my best friend. I realized then that kissing a boy is something that did nothing for me."

"While kissing your friend did everything for you?" Santana's smile grew when Dani nodded. "My story is somewhat similar to that."

Dani pulled a movie from the shelf and moved to the DVD player to put it in. "What's your story?"

Santana patted the spot beside her on the bed. Dani soon joined her and relaxed against her pillows, "I guess I always knew something was different about me. I would have these boyfriends, but every time I kissed them or whatever, it didn't feel right. Then I was at a party at the end of last year, ended up getting drunk and Quinn and I kissed…" Dani laughed, "don't laugh, I swear Quinn's a repressed lesbian."

"So you and her kissed, then what?" Dani shivered and looked down at her hand when she felt Santana's smooth fingers drag against the back of it.

"Then everything finally clicked in my head. I knew why those times I was with boys didn't feel right. Kissing Quinn… well, kissing a girl felt right." Santana finally turned to look at Dani, "please don't tell Quinn I told you that."

"Your secret's safe with me." Dani turned her hand palm up, hoping Santana would take the hint. She did. She looked down and saw the way Santana's darker skin looked against her own paler skin as their fingers interlocked. It was perfect.

Santana kept her eyes on the girl beside her. She had no idea what they were. Santana knew she wanted more than just a friendship, but based on what Dani had told her earlier, she wasn't the only one that needed time to heal and overcome some problems. So, she would take things one day at a time with Dani. Ignoring the way her wrist was starting to throb, she leaned over and gently placed her head on Dani's shoulder to watch the movie with her.

* * *

 _ **Don't forget to drop a review 3**_


	9. Chapter 9

I keep forgetting to post over here. I'm sorry. I haven't used this website in so long that I kind of forgot about it. SORRY! Enjoy.

* * *

 ** _Beautiful  
Chapter 9_**

"We finally got out list for our Regionals competitors!" Mr. Schuester held up the paper in his hand.

"It's about time, Regionals are Saturday." Santana called out, speaking what everybody else was thinking.

"There was apparently some kind of a problem with one of the original competitors, Santana." He sat down on the stool at the front of the room. "We have the Haverbrook School of the Deaf, and Carmel High's Vocal Adrenaline to deal with this year."

Dani froze when she heard the name of her former high school's show choir. Her face visibly paled and she felt sick to her stomach. "Please, excuse me." She got up and walked out of the room before anybody could stop her.

Without a second thought, Santana got up to follow her out of the room. "Dani?" She called out before jogging after the girl. She was worried about her girlfriend. She'd never seen that kind of a look on her face before. Everything had been so good for them over the past two weeks they'd been together. They had both found how easy it was to share everything with the other. "Dani, are you okay?"

"Does it look like I'm okay, Santana." She clenched her eyes to try to fight off the tears that threatened to fall. With a quick shake of her head, she walked into a nearby bathroom to avoid anybody seeing her. Once she was in the bathroom, she wrapped one of her hands around her other wrist to rub the tattoo that was there.

Santana was right behind her, she placed her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders before she spoke. "D, talk to me… please."

"D-do you remember when I said I had a bad breakup over the summer?" She could feel herself trembling, even though there was comfort in Santana's touch.

The brunette nodded, "yea, of course I remember." She slowly wrapped her arms around the blonde in front of her.

"She's in Vocal Adrenaline…"

Santana's arms tightened around the girl. "Don't worry, you're among friends here." She pressed a gentle kiss to the top of Dani's head. "And I won't let her get near you."

Dani slowly relaxed in her girlfriend's embrace. "I hope I don't see her Saturday night. My mom's gonna be there and everything, I know she doesn't want to relive all of that."

"I'll take care of her if she starts shit with you."

The blonde leaned further into Santana's embrace and let out a shaky breath. "I… I guess we should get back."

"They're gonna ask, you know that right?"

"Yea, I'll just tell them that my ex is in Vocal Adrenaline… because she is, they," she hesitated as she looked up, "they just don't need to know that it's a girl."

Santana chuckled as she stole a peck from her girlfriend. "No problem, they'll all assume it's a guy anyway. Rachel might suspect, but she won't say anything." She saw the fear show up on Dani's face, "you can trust Rachel."

"I know, it's just… I don't want there to be a repeat of Carmel…"

The brunette nodded before leading the way back to the choir room. "Look what I found!" She announced as they walked back into the choir room.

"Are you okay?" Artie asked as soon as Dani walked in.

When she nodded, Mercedes was next to talk, "what was that about, girl?"

Dani let out a heavy breath as she reclaimed her seat next to Santana, "well, you guys know I used to go to Carmel, before I came here." They nodded to her, "my ex is in Vocal Adrenaline."

The girl instantly looked up when she felt a rough hand taking her own, "we got you, Dani. If he starts shit, we'll take care of it."

"Thanks, Puck."

"He's right, we're a family in here. New kid or not." Mercedes smiled at the blond.

Dani felt a smile take over her face. She did feel at home around these people. These people that she hasn't even known for a full month yet. She glanced at Santana beside her, who nodded, confirming Mercedes' and Puck's statements. "See. Told you so."

Dani couldn't help but laugh softly as she playfully shoved the darker skinned girl away from her. "Don't mean I listen to you."

The room cracked up laughing at the pair who had become the best of friends ever since Dani moved to Lima.

* * *

Before they knew it, Saturday was upon them. Dani sat by one of the mirrors, facing Santana as the other Latina helped her with her make-up. "We have thirty minutes." Santana started.

"I know, I'm nervous. You know how I am."

Santana glanced around for a moment before taking Dani's hands in her own. Everybody else was pre-occupied with warming up and finishing their own hair and make-up. "You're going to be just fine. Remember the first time we hung out, when I was teaching you the routine?" Dani nodded. "And how we just let loose to Destiny's Child?" Dani giggled, but nodded again. "Just go out there and pretend like nobody's watching."

"Alright, I'll try, thank you." She smiled shyly at her fellow Latina before standing up. "I'm going to the bathroom real quick, and to that vending machine we passed when we came in." Dani went to reach for her bag, but Santana stopped her as she reached for her own.

"My treat… as long as you buy me something too while you're there." She pulled out her wallet and fetched 3 one dollar bills for her. "Water?"

"So demanding," she rolled her eyes playfully as she folded the money to slip it under her dress and under her bra strap. "But okay… and thank you." She winked at Santana before leaving the room.

After making a stop in the bathroom, she made her way out toward the entryway to the building where she spotted a soda machine upon arrival. Dani reached into the top of her dress to pull out the money her girlfriend had given to her. She placed two of the bills into the machine and hit the button for a bottle of water. After pulling out the bottle and tucking it under her arm, she grabbed the change to feed back into the machine. She pressed the same button for a bottle for herself.

"Well if it isn't Dani-boy."

The blonde had a sharp intake of breath as she slowly turned around. _'Don't crack Dani. If you stall long enough, Santana will come looking for you.'_ She looked right into her exes eyes. "It's nice to see you again, Alison."

The taller girl laughed dryly. "It's not nice to see you. I thought we got rid of you. Guess we didn't work hard enough at it." She started approaching the girl. "Seriously, Dani? You think blonde works on you?"

Dani angrily smacked the girl's hand away when she reached out to touch her hair. "What gives you the right to touch me anymore?"

"What do you mean anymore? How many times do I have to remind you, nothing happened." She stepped closer, effectively causing Dani to back up against the machines. "You still have that same scared look in your eye."

"Why can't you just let it go Alison?"

"Because you fucking came on to me after I told you no I don't know how many times. It was like you were trying to infect me. I had to warn everybody against your disgusting ways."

Dani flinched at the words. "Just back off, Alison. I'm not in your stupid school anymore, I'm in a better school."

"McKinley? That's a better school?" She laughed at the shorter girl, "McKinley is full of a bunch of freaks. Wait, maybe that's why you belong there."

She swallowed the lump in her throat, trying to fight away her tears. "You're a bitch."

"And you're a carpet munching faggot who tried to pull everybody else down with you."

"Just because you're in denial, doesn't mean that I'm not comfortable with who I am."

"Oh yea, do your little friends know you're a dyke?"

Before Dani could say anything, she spotted Santana rapidly approaching them. There was a look on the darker girl's face that Dani had never seen before, but apparently the others had. Puck and Quinn attempted to step in front of her to stop her forward movements, but it was to no avail.

"Muevanse a la chingada. _(Back the fuck off.)"_ Santana called out as she approached, she wiggled her way out of Quinn's grasp to place her hand on the strange girl's shoulder, turning her toward her. "Jodete, hijo de puta! _(Fuck you, you son of a bitch!)"_ She spat in the girl's face. Her anger had boiled over the moment she saw Dani backed against the vending machines.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Santana ignored her as she continued to push closer to the girl, she also ignored the two sets of arms around her waist attempting to hold her back. "Maldita perra. ¿No le has echo ya suficiente daño? Largate si no quieres que te joda como lo hiciste tu. _(You stupid bitch. Don't you think you've done enough to her already? Fuck off before I cut you and cause you the same pain you caused her.)"_ She ripped her arm out of Quinn's grasp to shove the girl.

"No… understando… you."

That only pissed Santana off more. "Dani es increíble y, posiblemente, lo mejor que me halla pasado. ¿Cual es tu problema pinche puta? _(Dani is incredible and possibly the best thing to happen to me. What is your problem you stupid slut?)"_ She grit her teeth at the girl in front of her. She turned her attention to her blonde friend who still had a firm grasp around her waist. "Dejame Quinn. Tengo que darle una leccion. _(Let go Quinn. I have to teach her a lesson.)"_

The girl folded her arms over her chest, she wouldn't show it, but the girl yelling Spanish at her frightened her some. "Do you know English? Can you speak it for me?"

Santana could feel herself shaking by that point. "Fuck… off… you… stupid… slut." She punctuated each word before continuing.

"Oh look, it does speak English. Now, ya wanna translate everything you just told me?"

"Get off of me, Quinn!" She pulled her hand out of her friend's grasp again to point right into the girl's face. Her tone dropped to a dangerously love, threatening level. "Back off of my girlfriend. Or I will end you."

The girl raised her hands in defeat. "You're just as crazy as her. You two belong together." She laughed before turning to walk away.

Dani suddenly dropped the bottles she'd been holding as she heard the last thing Santana said. Her eyes darted around to all the people who had become her friends over the past few weeks. They all had the same shocked expression on their faces as they looked between Santana and her. She could feel tears tickling the edges of her eyes as she shook her head and walked away. There was snow on the ground, on that mid-November evening, but Dani didn't care how cold it was. She had to get away from them. She just had to think.

The crisp evening air bit into her skin as she walked down the entryway to sit on the top of the steps. She pulled her knees in close to herself in an attempt to keep somewhat warm. It was going to happen again. Having to leave the school. Again. She hated it. She found someone she truly liked, and who liked her back. Seeing Santana's rage toward Alison, only confirmed her suspicion that Santana did, in fact, like her.

She ran her fingers through her hair to grip the back of her head as the tears finally started falling. Everything Santana said to her. _'Dani is incredible and possibly the best thing to happen to me.'_ That's all she could think about. Dani understood everything Santana said. She chuckled briefly at the amount of times Santana swore. She doesn't think she ever heard so much cussing in one conversation before.

But then, once Santana told everybody that she was her girlfriend, everybody got really quiet and looked between the two of them. She knew she couldn't go back in there. It would be possible. It was all happening again. Starting off just the same was as it did in Carmel. With someone screaming out something that they weren't supposed to, and it went downhill from there.

Back inside the building, Santana was a giant mixture of emotions, she was so caught up on blowing up on that girl that she hadn't even noticed her girlfriend's fearful expression. "Santana!" Quinn shook her friend, "reel in Snix, there's a bigger problem." She turned her friend to point outside where Dani had been seated in the cold.

"Oh god…" Everything started to dawn on her. She replayed the words that had come out of her mouth in her rage. She told everybody the one thing that she'd promised she wouldn't. "Let me go."

"San, please… you need to calm down right now. You didn't see the look on her face." Quinn allowed Puck to take over control of Santana as she ran back to their room to get her own coat as well as Dani's coat. As she passed the group again, she saw Rachel speaking softly to Santana. "Oh my god it's cold out here." She shivered as soon as the cold air hit her face when the door was open. As quickly as possible, she slid her coat on and made her way carefully across the pavement. "If I fall, I swear to god…" she mumbled as she inched her way across what seemed to be an ice patch.

"Just leave me alone. I don't wanna hear it."

Quinn placed the coat over Dani's shoulders before brushing off some snow off the step beside her. "Don't wanna hear what?"

Dani pulled the jacket closer to her, but refused to look up at the girl beside her. "It's what happened at Carmel… I got outted and everybody turned on me."

"You really think that we'll turn on you?" Quinn pulled her own coat tighter to her body as she watched the girl beside her. "Just think about it. My best friend in this entire school is Santana. And Santana is very much a lesbian." She watched Dani look toward her before she smiled, "everybody in the glee club is really cool. Just look at all of us. Gay, straight, jock to geek, everybody's covered."

"Yea, I thought everything would be okay back at Carmel… Then things hit the fan…" she looked away again, "I can't… I won't go through that again, Quinn."

"I know you haven't been here that long, Dani… but we look out for our own."

"Quinn…" she looked over at the blonde again, "I really like it here… and I really like Santana."

"You know, I don't usually take well to new people. Especially new people in our little circle." She could see the frown forming on Dani's face, then she continued, "but you're not that bad." Quinn saw something on the girls wrists. The tattoos. "What do those mean?"

Dani looked down and chuckled. "Mr. Shue said I couldn't wear my bracelets today. But they're a constant reminder. I need to stay strong through the bad times. I see it whenever I tie my shoes, take a shower, do my homework... I always see them. And it gets me through the day."

"Can I see?" She reached out gently and smiled some when Dani offered her wrists to the other blonde. "They're beautiful, and I'm sure they have a much deeper meaning to you." She smiled reassuringly to her friend before standing up. "Please come back in. I promise nobody's going to judge you or treat you any differently." She offered her hand down to Dani, "besides, we need you."

"You don't need me. You guys are really good… I saw you guys at regionals last year."

Quinn refused to pull her offered hand away from the girl, "we do need you. You are an amazing dancer, and you can sing. You can definitely sing."

Dani blushed at the girl's words before forcing out a smile and taking Quinn's hand. "Are you sure they won't judge me?"

"If they do, I'll kill them with my own hands." Dani laughed softly at her. "Oh, and if you hurt my girl, that'll be the end of you."

Dani laughed again before nodding. She walked into the building with Quinn, but stopped when she saw the object of her anger talking to another member of Vocal Adrenaline. "Hang on a second, Quinn."

The taller blonde's arms folded over her chest as she watched Dani approach the darker haired girl. She watched intently in case she had to step in. "What do you want Dani-boy?" She heard Alison speak when Dani got closer to her.

"Honestly, Alison… you breaking up with me was the best thing to ever happen to me." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the person's eyes grow wide at her words. "You never once stood up for me the way Santana just did. I lost you, but I gained someone a million times better." With that, she turned around to return to Quinn.

"Let's go see if Santana reeled in Snix yet," Quinn started walking down the hallway toward the room they were using.

"So that was the infamous Snix that I saw?"

"That was Snix on crack. I've never seen her that angry before…"

Once they entered the room and everybody looked up, Dani nearly ran off again. That was when she spotted Santana looking right at her. She could see nothing but remorse in the girl's eyes. While all she wanted to do was run to her and hug her, she couldn't. She was too afraid to do so.

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Drop a review if you feel inclined.


	10. Chapter 10

_I'm a horrible person that keeps forgetting to post. That being said. I now have an AO3 account, under Jencey86 if any of you are interested in finding me over there. I'm still navigating around to get the feel for that website since this and Tumblr have been the only ones I've used for years lol._

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 ** _Beautiful  
Chapter 10_**

Santana felt horrible. Ever since she outted her girlfriend to everybody, Dani hasn't talked to her. They've shared some looks and small, sad smiles, but nothing more than a word or two. Santana felt broken. She found herself staying at Quinn's house after the regionals victory, as well as Sunday night… just so she wouldn't have to be alone.

Quinn told her that Dani had just needed some time. Santana knew that her girlfriend did, but she also knew that her girlfriend was upset with her. She had done the one thing that Dani had been petrified of happening since she started at McKinley.

She dared a glance at Dani when she entered the choir room. It gave her a little bit of hope when Dani did look up at her and had that same little lip twitch of a smile on her face. Santana just hoped they were going to be alright, even if it did take some time. Everything else in her life had been shambles and she didn't want to lose one of the only good things she felt she had left.

Dani glanced at Santana as she walked toward the back of the room to sit with Quinn. She then tossed a sad smile toward Quinn. She wanted to be that person that the darker girl sat beside. But no, her own insecurities were keeping her away from the girl she found herself falling very quickly in love with. She quickly blushed at her own thought. Did she really love Santana? She didn't think she did… then she saw the way she stood up for her at regionals on Saturday. Then she heard the things she said, granted they were in Spanish, but she understood it all. She glanced back at Santana for a moment. Did her fellow Latina even realize that she understood her?

She carefully diverted her eyes back down to her lap where she began to play with her own bracelet that covered her right wrist. Thankfully, Mr. Schuester decided to make his presence in the classroom known at that time.

"Regional Champions!" He called out, drawing cheers from the room. He smiled widely at them as he walked to his whiteboard. "The last time this choir was the regional champion and going to nationals, was when I was going here. So… that got me thinking for this week's assignment."

"Oh god, Mr. Shue, we don't want to do 70s music again." Kurt whined, drawing laughter from some of the people.

"Actually, Kurt. I was thinking something from when you guys were younger." He turned back to the whiteboard and started to write on it. "90s pop." He capped his marker before turning back to his class. A smile overtook his face when he saw everybody's excitement. Everybody except Santana and Dani. He had heard from the others what happened at the regionals competition between the two girls and only wished that they would work out their differences soon. He hated seeing the two girls looking so miserable.

Dani tuned out most of the class as her mind worked on a perfect song to perform. It would be her first performance in front of the group since her audition and she wanted it to be perfect. She wanted to convey everything she felt for Santana to her. While knowing it would be a big step for her, she felt as though she could without being judged by anybody within those four walls. Nobody had said a word to her about what happened. Nobody seemed to care. Nobody looked at her funny. It was just like Quinn had told her on Saturday night, none of them judged anybody else. During the bus ride back from Columbus, she had sat beside Rachel, but was lost in her MP3 player. Every once in a while she remembered looking around, but she didn't find anybody staring at her funny, or even attempting to talk to her. She was thankful that they realized she wanted to be alone.

When she vaguely heard Mr. Schuester dismiss the class, she grabbed Rachel's hand before she could leave. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

The brunette looked down at her friend with a smile then sat back down in her chair. "Of course, what is it, Dani?"

The blonde waited until everybody had left the room before speaking to her friend. "I have an idea for what I want to do, but… I'm going to need some help."

* * *

Santana had been watching her all week. She saw the way she laughed as she walked with Mike down the hallway after lunch. She noticed how she spent extra time in the choir room with Britney after the glee club was released. She even noticed the insane amount of time she'd spent with Rachel. By Thursday, Santana was about to burst. Dani had still barely spoken to her and she felt herself going crazy with the need to know what was going on.

When she got to the choir room early on Thursday, she frowned when she saw Dani and Rachel hurry to clean up their sheet music. "What's going on?" She eyed both of them, more so Dani than Rachel.

"Not a thing." Dani spoke in a hurry before going from the classroom, leaving her girlfriend and Rachel alone in the room.

Santana watched Dani practically run out of the room before she turned to her friend. "Alright, troll, what is going on. I've seen her spending all this time with you, she's glued at the hip to Mike and Brittany."

Rachel just smiled at her, "I am not at liberty to say, Santana."

"Please," Santana suddenly pleaded with the shorter girl. "This whole week has been hell… I miss her. I screwed up royally and I don't know how to fix it."

Rachel sighed, "just be patient, Santana. You'll understand everything tomorrow, trust me." She picked up her own sheet music before leaving the room as well, Santana had assumed it was to find Dani.

Just outside the door though, Dani had heard everything Santana had said to Rachel. When she saw the girl exit the room, she smiled softly at her. "So… I'm doing a good thing then, right?"

"You were standing right here, so you had to have heard her."

Dani peaked into the choir room and sighed. "I'm scared… She's the only one that's actually watched me dance… other than the people in the audience, but I know you guys."

Rachel looped her arm in Dani's as she walked off toward her own locker to get her things for the end of the day. "Haven't you figured it out yet, nobody in that room judges anybody else. Besides, I know, for a fact, that you can dance. I've seen you dancing with Mike, Puck and Brittney these past few days."

Dani blushed heavily. "I'm really not that good."

"So modest, that's got to be what Santana sees in you." Rachel smiled brightly as Dani's blush deepened. "Okay, come on, we have glee to go to."

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Friday came sooner than Dani had anticipated it would. She sat in glee with a pair of white pants on and a dark blue hoodie. Nobody looked at her differently, even though it definitely wasn't her normal outfit for school. "If nobody else has anything, I'll go ahead and cut you guys loose for the weekend." Mr. Schue announced.

Dani raised her hand slowly as the other students had started to stand up and gather their things. "Mr. Schue… I have something." She could instantly feel all eyes on her as she stood up and unzipped her hoodie to pull it off, revealing a solid white half shirt that revealed her stomach.

"Alright, floor's all yours, Dani." He smiled encouragingly at her before he moved to one of the seats along the wall.

She took a deep breath and watched as Puck, Mike, and Brittany all stood up to join her. "I need to say something first," she looked up to the back row where Santana sat with her jaw opened slightly – openly staring at her. "After what happened last Saturday… it brought back so many memories over what happened to me at Carmel. Nobody there was as accepting as you guys are. I had nobody to turn to. But here… in this room I feel like I can actually be myself. It'll take a little time for me to be able to open up about everything, but, I'm getting there." She glanced over at Puck and Mike who nodded. "Maybe this will help everybody understand just a little bit more." Her eyes locked with Santana, as if to tell her that the song was mostly for her, even though she couldn't say the words.

Puck and Mike climbed the rises to get to the back row, they surrounded Santana and grabbed ahold of her chair to lift her up. "What the hell, put me down!"

"Nope, you wouldn't of moved on your own, Lopez." Puck smirked at his friend. Him and Mike moved her down to the front of the room and placed her on the floor right in front of Dani.

Dani looked at the band before signaling them to start the music. Her eyes instantly became locked with Santana's as she took yet another deep breath. " _You tell me, you're in love with me. Like you can't take your pretty eyes away from me. It's not that I don't want to stay. But every time you come too close, I move away. I wanna believe in everything that you say. 'Cause it sounds so good. But if you really want me, move slow. There's things about me, you just have to know."_

As Dani fell into the chorus of the Britney spears song, Santana felt her heart fluttering in her chest. The girl was opening herself up to not only her, but everybody in the room. She couldn't take her eyes away from her girlfriend as she slowly approached her. And continued singing.

" _Sometimes I run. Sometimes I hide. Sometimes I'm scared of you. But all I really want is to hold you tight."_ Dani had made her way behind Santana's chair and slid her arms around the darker girl's neck as she sang, " _Treat you right, be with you day and night. Baby, all I need is time."_

A slow smile started to come to Santana's face as she kept eye contact with Dani when she moved back to the center of the room to resume the dance routine with the others. What had happened last Saturday, hadn't ruined their relationship. It had just gotten Dani thinking some more.

" _I don't wanna be so shy. Every time that I'm alone, I wonder why. Hope that you will wait for me. You'll see that you're the only one for me. I wanna believe in everything that you say. 'Cause it sounds so good. But if you really want me, move slow. There's things about me, you just have to know."_ As the song went into another chorus, Dani danced closer to Santana and grabbed her hands with a smile on her face. She pulled the darker skinned girl onto her feet and continued singing directly to her until the song was finished.

When the music faded away, the couple was trapped in their own world again, as the classroom around them started clapping and complimenting her on the song. None of that mattered to Dani at that moment, all that mattered was that Santana still wanted to be her girlfriend. "I understood everything you said to Alison."

Santana was thankful at that moment for her darker complexion, because she could feel her cheeks turning red with a blush. "You did?"

Dani glanced at the others who were watching them, she had decided against embarrassing Santana anymore, "and I heard what you said about me." She had thought for a moment about repeating what Santana had said, but figured she could bring it up when they were alone.

"Are you guys good again? Because I'm tired of both ya'll moping around here all week." Mercedes called out to them.

The shorter girl giggled and slid her arms around Santana's neck. Even if they couldn't hug or kiss, or anything else in the halls, she knew, at that moment, that they would be fine as long as they were in that room. "Yea, I think we're good again." She looked up into Santana's eyes before taking a deep breath and pulling the taller girl closer for a very short, soft kiss. Then broke into a huge blush when she heard the boys whistling at them.

Santana's arms slowly made their way around Dani's waist. She was reluctant to let the girl go anytime soon. "So… all that throughout the week with Rachel, Brit, Mike, and Puck… that was all for this?" Dani nodded, then blushed when Santana leaned back slightly to look down at the shirt she was wearing, "dare I ask where you got that shirt?"

"Brittany let me borrow it."

"I should have known." Santana leaned forward to whisper against Dani's ear. "I like it a lot." She laughed when her words earned her a smack on the arm.

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 _Drop a review if you'd like. I love reading what you guys have to say about things._


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